Bigby's Den
by Bigby the Big Bad Wolf
Summary: A collection of one-shots. I originally wanted to create a simple talkshow but I decided that wasn't enough. Now I've create a special club where fictional characters can come together and have a good time. And get interviewed by yours truly. Whether you're from books, video games, or comics, welcome one and all to Bigby's Den.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I own nothing in this story save my own characters and creations.**

 **Hello, everyone. Remember that Bigby's Den thing I tried at the end of some of my chapters? Well I decided to mix things up a bit and create an entire story based on it for the sake of convenience, inspired by works such as ThatGuyWithTheGlasses'** _Video Game Confessions_ **, Incredible Muffin's** _Times with the Muffin_ **, and Count Kulalu's** _Character Confessions at the Krazy Kulalu_ **.**

 **Bigby's Den**

 **Chapter 1**

Hello, everyone and welcome. As you probably know, I go by the username Bigby the Big Bad Wolf. Sadly, I am not _the_ Big Bad Wolf of Fable legend; just a simple storyteller who thought using his name would make me look cool. I am also the creator of Bigby's Den. At first the Den started out as a talk-show where I interviewed my fictional companions, especially those who were starring in my work. First there was Korra and Asami and then Elsa and Hiccup after them. I tried doing my Den more often but I just couldn't find the motivation to. At first I wasn't sure why but eventually I realized that I wanted something more, something really special. And so I turned Bigby's Den into a House of Mouse-esque club where my pals from all across fiction could gather in one place and interact with each other. And with me of course.

…

I'm pretty sure my face was hurting from how hard I was smiling, as I watched from my spot backstage, at the amount of people pouring in. So many were gathered here tonight: there was Steven Universe and the Crystal Gems, Alice Liddell and the Cheshire Cat, Princess Bonnibel Bubblegum and Marceline the Vampire Queen, several of the keyblade wielders, Queen Elsa and her sister Princess Anna, Jack Skellington and the citizens of Halloween Town. Good grief, the sheer amount made it hard for me to make every individual out.

Unfortunately, I had forgotten that I don't do well in large crowds. Normally I was more comfortable around friends and family but the vast number of people wasn't sitting well with me. My mouth felt dry, my stomach was churning, my knees were weak; all I needed now was some sweat and I would look like a complete wreck.

"Get it together, Bigby," I firmly told myself under my breath, despite my nervousness. "These are your friends, not total strangers. There is _no_ reason for you to be this freaking nervous!"

"Aww, is the Big Bad Wolf having stage fright?" a disembodied, yet familiar voice teased. Normally I wouldn't be startled by this but due to how distracted and anxious I was, I flinched, my heart was pumping like a jackhammer, and my eyes were scanning the area wildly. The fact that I didn't jump out of my skin was a miracle in of itself. I looked around but couldn't find the speaker. Just then Marceline appeared next to me, having decided to use her invisibility while I wasn't paying attention.

"Hello, Marceline," I muttered dryly, already feeling my cheeks redden as my heart started beating to a slower pace. I hate getting startled, especially when I'm nervous. Or any time for that matter.

The Vampire Queen chuckled. "Relax, Bigby, just having some fun. You looked pretty tense from what I saw so I thought I'd come help you loosen up."

"By trying to give me a heart attack?!" I hissed at her.

"Just relax, Bigby," Marceline told me. "Don't want to meet your public looking like you're about to have a breakdown."

"Indeed," another disembodied voice said before the Cheshire Cat materialized next to us, that unsettling wide grin on his face. "It's rather unbecoming of one calling himself _the Big Bad Wolf_ to be acting more like a whimpering pup, wouldn't you agree?."

"Oh thanks for the encouragement, Cheshire," I grumbled. "I feel _so_ much better now."

Marceline flew up in front of me, giving me a small smile. "Seriously though, Bigby, you have nothing to worry about. We're all here for you. You've got our support."

Despite how annoyed I was at Marceline for startling me, I couldn't help smiling back. The encouragement only calmed my nerves about a fraction but it was still very appreciated. All the same, why didn't I just start out with a few people tonight?

Marceline noticed how nervous I still was. "Come on. I'll help you out." Then before I could say anything, she flew on stage to address the patrons.

"Hey, everyone!" She called out. "Are you ready to get this show started?"

"Yeah!" everyone responded to her.

"I said, ARE YOU READY TO GET THIS SHOW STARTED?!" Marceline urged them.

"YEAH!" everyone shouted, louder than before.

"Well then give it up for our host Bigby the Big. Bad. Woooooooolf!"

A round of applause went out through the crowd, signifying my cue. Marceline then looked back at me, smiled, and gave me two thumbs up.

"I believe the proper word for this situation would be "showtime"," The Cheshire Cat said to me. I tried to come up with some sort of witty comeback when he pulled his typical disappearing act.

"I swear he enjoys being a pain in my ass," I muttered under my breath. But seeing that it was too late to even think of backing out, I gave my suit a quick brush off and made my way on stage. The applause picked back up once they saw me. I put on the biggest smile I could and waved. Marceline nodded to me before flying over to a table Bubblegum was sitting at. I turned to face the crowd, my nerves already starting to kick up again as I saw so many eyes on me. Taking a deep breath through my nose, I gathered up all the willpower I could muster and forced myself calm. Then I raised my arms.

"Hello ladies and gentlemen!" I shouted to my audience. "And welcome one and all to the grand opening of the one, the only, Bigbyyyyy's Deeeeeen!"

I was treated to an even more thunderous applause, which definitely lifted my mood up So far so good, but I still felt like I was walking on eggshells. I better keep the ball rolling before I lost my nerve.

"We've got a lot of stuff to talk about today so I guess I'll get down to the nitty gritty," I began, clasping my hands together. "As you are all no doubt aware by now, and this has been long overdue, I have gotten back to writing _Bleach: Ultimate Alien_ as a remake. So far we are nine chapters into the story, eight if you take into consideration that one of the chapters is just an Author's Note. But all the same, I have resumed writing."

"About time!" Amethyst shouted playfully from where she and the other Crystal Gems were sitting. "Are you actually going to update it again or just leave us hanging like usual?"

"Amethyst!" Pearl predictably cried out, preparing to admonish the smaller Gem, who was putting on a look of faux innocence. This brought about some chuckles from the peanut gallery.

I shrugged, having expected somebody to comment on that particular topic. "Relax, Pearl. I'm used to it."

"All the same," Pearl said, still annoyed at her fellow Gem's words. "Her behavior was uncalled for."

"It's probably common knowledge by now that my writing schedule leaves something to be desired and I think I've come up with some ways to help me overcome it. But right now, let's focus on _Bleach: Ultimate Alien_. First off, in the long awaited honor of my story's comeback please welcome to the stage Ben Tennyson!"

The crowd let out another round of applause as the wielder of the Omnitrix got up from his table and made his way to the stage. I clapped along with the others as Ben joined me.

"Hey, Ben," I greeted them. "Glad you could make it."

"No problem, Bigby," Ben said, warmly. "I was surprised though, I haven't heard from you in a while."

"I know, I know," I said, raising my hands. "When I last updated the remake, right? When was that again?" I scratched my head in an exaggerated way for humor. It seemed to work since I got some laughs.

"I'd say about four months but who's counting?" Ben shot back playfully, earning some more laughter from the crowd.

"Alright, fair enough," I conceded. "So, Ben, I know I'm a little late in asking this but do you feel about my story being revived and staring in it again?"

"I'm a little disappointed that you decided to drop the original since you put so much time and effort into it but honestly, I'm just glad we're working together again," Ben admitted.

I beamed. "Really?"

"Well, yeah," Ben put his hands in his pockets as he smiled sheepishly. "I really thought that you didn't want anything to do with me anymore. I heard you complained a lot about some of my shows like Omniverse."

I cringed. "Ooh." I rubbed my neck. I wasn't expecting that to be brought up. It took me a moment to collect my thoughts. "Sorry I made you feel that way, man. As annoyed as I was, I was never upset with _you_ ; the team behind the show, maybe, but not you personally. You're my pal, Ben. I wouldn't just toss you or any of my friends aside like that."

"Heh," Ben smiled. "Thanks, Bigby."

"No problem, man," I said. "That aside what are your thoughts on the remake?"

"I'm okay with it but I'm always going to enjoy the time I had with the original version. I'll admit, it had its' ups and downs but I still had fun." Then he grinned. "Course hooking up with five really hot girls didn't hurt either." This earned him a lot of laughs, some whistles and catcalls, as well as a few eyes rolls and head shakes. I couldn't resist looking over at where the Bleach characters were sitting, especially at Harribel, her Fraccion, and Nelliel. Nelliel was smiling with a faint blush on her face; Harribel remained with that stoic expression of hers (as far as I could tell due to her face being covered) while her Fraccion were among those rolling their eyes, though they did have small smiles. "That reminds me, how come you're just interviewing me? I thought you'd be talking to the whole cast. Especially now that _Bleach_ is over."

"I'm gonna wait until I get further in the story, possibly when I complete the first volume," I explained. "Since you're the lead character, you deserve first shot. As for your harem, hope you're not too upset over hooking up with just one girl this time around."

Ben shrugged playfully. "Well, I might be a _little_ disappointed." More laughs. "But it's your story, Bigby, you call the shots. Course, considering who you're hooking me up with, I'm not complaining _too_ much." More whistles that time around. Ben looked at Harribel and smiled at her. The Arrancar just crossed her arms.

"I wish you luck with that," she said with the faintest hint of a challenge in her voice. A collective "Ooooh" went through the crowd. Ben raised a brow, but his smile remained.

"So how does my story look so far?" I inquired of the lead character.

"It's still early so I can't say much about it yet," Ben said and I nodded, that sounded fair. "The biggest thing I want to know about though is that Thorn guy. We _are_ going to learn more about him right?"

"Oh definitely," I replied. "Let's just say I've got some big plans in mind with him. And that's all I'm saying."

"What, Bigby actually being secret about something?" Ben grinned as he ribbed me. "That's new."

I frowned. "Beg pardon?"

"Well no offense, Bigby, but subtlety's not exactly your specialty," Ben stated. "Course it's more because you _like_ standing out and making yourself known than because you're bad at keeping secrets."

"I wear my heart on my sleeve," I said casually. "Now I _can_ keep secrets but I just choose not to because I don't want any misunderstandings about me. I want people around me to have the straight facts."

Ben raised an eyebrow. "And being the center of attention has nothing to do with it, right?"

I gave him a deadpan look. "You're one to talk."

"Hey, what can I say?" Ben shrugged. "The people love me. Most of the time anyway."

"Yeah, Yeah. Well, Thorn aside, what other thoughts do you have about the story?"

"Well, I feel the beginning was a little rushed," Ben said truthfully.

"Rushed? How so?"

"Well the chapter was okay but there wasn't any real buildup. It's just about me being bored, getting some new upgrades, and then literally blasted to another universe. I don't know what but I feel there could have been…more."

"Yeah…I can see that. I guess I could have added some extra foreshadowing, maybe fleshed out Thorn some more." I scratched my chin. "So…any other parts you think could have been improved?"

Ben mused over the question. "Probably the part where I meet Aizen. Someone complained about how I reacted to his group being ghosts, right?"

"Right."

"I mean I'd definitely be surprised but I've seen enough weird stuff that actual ghosts wouldn't be _that_ big a deal," Ben continued. "Your explanation about me being used to aliens that were like ghosts but not real ones was okay but, no offense, still weak."

"Yeah, I agree," I acknowledged. "I can't quite remember but I think I might have thrown that in _after_ the complaint as some means of an excuse. I really wasn't in the mood to change the entire thing. Whether it's because I thought you'd be surprised or because I was too lazy to change that entire scene, I don't remember."

Ben laughed. "Sounds like you might need to work on that."

"The laziness or the remembering?"

Ben grinned. "Exactly." I found myself rolling my eyes once more. Ben then crossed his arms and tilted his head. "I also think you could have done more with my first encounter with Harribel. Like showing more of my reaction instead of just telling the readers how hot I thought she was." He quickly looked back at Harribel herself. "Not saying you aren't!"

We all chuckled at that. Harribel's Fraccion scowled at him but nowhere near their usual level of hostility. Guess their time working with Ben had mellowed them out to his antics.

"Yeah, yeah," I said again. I really needed to come up with some new phrases. "I did focus more on describing her than your personal reaction, I accept that and I'll make sure to keep it in mind for the future. Back to your first encounter with Aizen, I think I can guess what you might plan on saying next."

"What?" Ben asked. I wasn't sure if he was honestly being curious or testing to see what I'd come up with.

"The whole thing about you being against killing; some readers have pointed out how you've been willing to kill previous enemies. The problem is I was focused entirely on the whole "Super-heroes don't kill" thing that I've seen in other Ben 10 fanfics. Though to be fair, I doubt you'd be willing to just kill people that you don't know enough about, even if you heard first-hand accounts of what they have done. Usually you have to be pushed really hard before you resort to things like that. Do you think I should have written you being uneasy but not actually speaking up about it yet?"

"That might have worked better," Ben said.

I was kinda hoping he would elaborate a little more on where he did stand on killing bad guys, so I was put out when he didn't. I did notice he looked a little out of it. Did my words affect him somehow? I wanted to find out more about it but at the same time I was worried that I would be pushing things. So I decided to move on. "Alright, I'll keep that in mind too. Anything else?"

"How about when Harribel's girls came after me," Ben suggested.

I blinked. Out of all the possible things Ben could have found wrong with the story, I honestly wasn't expecting that. "Really? What did you think was wrong with that part?"

"I felt that whole talk about me being single, not looking for a relationship, and Harribel being out of my league wasn't really something I would do. I mean, yeah that's what was going on but come off like a remainder to the readers that Harribel and I aren't hooking up anytime soon."

I winced. "Okay when you put it like that. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if that _was_ why I even made that scene in the first place. Man, what should I have written instead?" I directed the question to myself but Ben answered for me.

"Maybe you could have written that they attack me, I defend myself, and then Nnoitra shows up." he suggested.

I smacked my forehead. "Okay now that sounds so much better. _And_ it makes a lot more sense."

"The only real complaint I have about the Nnoitra fight itself was that it was short," Ben started to say before he was rudely interrupted.

"No kidding!" Nnoitra roared from his table, glaring daggers at me. "What the hell, Bigby?! Back in your old version I was Ben's nemesis, but when we fight in your new one, all we did was have us hit each other a few times and then Starrk stops us. And if that wasn't enough, you give Ben a longer and better fight with Grimmjow! _Grimmjow_!"

"Like I said in the Author's Note for that chapter, I was testing the waters!" I snapped in annoyance. "I'll give you better fights in the future!"

"Really?" Nnoitra sneered.

"Really," I shot back. Nnoitra was always one of my least favorite characters of Bleach and I wasn't gonna let myself get pushed around by the likes of him. I swear, one of these days I'm gonna lose it with him so bad that I'll take the end of...whatever his weapon is and shove it right up his rear end.

"But you really made up for it with the Grimmjow fight didn't you?" Ben added, probably to prevent me and Nnoitra from possibly duking it out. "I was _not_ expecting him to tear off my arm."

Grimmjow himself grinned. "Now that's something I would do. Hell, the whole fight was pretty much something I'd do." He laughed. "You did good, Bigby. I'm actually impressed." Nnoitra glared at him but Grimmjow ignored his fellow Arrancar.

"Thanks," I replied, wondering whether I should feel flattered or disturbed. "Anyway it felt like something that would happen in Bleach and as Grimmjow said, something that he would do. At least I made sure that you were using an alien who could afford to lose an arm. Sorta."

"Sorta?" Ben repeated. "What? You couldn't wait _until_ I was Swampfire before I get my arm ripped off?"

"I thought it was more impactful with one of your aliens who couldn't regenerate," I explained.

"Oh, "more impactful". Right," Ben grumbled half-heartedly under his breath. This brought up some more chuckles from the peanut gallery.

"What about the training with Tōsen, Gin, and Harribel's Fraccion? Were those alright?"

"Those were pretty good fights," Ben reassured me. "I liked when I buried Gin up to his head and how I got Apacci, Mila Rose, and Sung-Sun as Upchuck. Those parts were hilarious."

"And what was funny about it?!" Apacci yelled at him from her table. All this succeeded in doing was getting some more laughs from the rest of the audience, making her temper flare up even more. "Let's put you in somebody's mouth and see how you like it!"

"Sorry, Apacci!" I called out to her. What can I say? I hate it when pretty women are mad at me. Call it a weakness. "I didn't mean anything bad by it, I swear! I just wanted to write something funny."

"Something funny?!" Apacci shouted indignantly. She looked like she was ready to launch herself right at me.

"Apacci," Harribel said in that soft but authoritative voice of hers. The other Arrancar froze at her lady's voice.

"But Lady Harribel…" Apacci started to plea.

"It's already happened so there is no point in still being upset," Harribel reprimanded her firmly but gently. Apacci was clearly upset that she wasn't going to throttle me, but she sat back down in her chair regardless. "At least he didn't write something worse." Harribel narrowed her eyes at me, which made me flinch. Like I said, I don't like when pretty women are mad at me. Makes me depressed. And hurts my self-esteem.

"Another thing I was curious about," Ben said, directing my attention away from Harribel's gaze. "You know the part where Aizen gives me all that information about the Captains and their powers?"

"What about it?" I asked, although I was more eager about finding something to distract me from Harribel's possible fury.

"I know in the story Aizen didn't give me information about their Bankai or anything about the lieutenants is because he didn't want to make things too easy for me, but is that the reason you didn't include them?"

"Nope," I said. "The real reason is because Kubo never showed us readers Ukitake's Bankai or some of the lieutenants' powers. It would be better to just leave those parts out."

"Huh. Well that makes sense."

"Be honest with me though," I said quickly. "Do you think that maybe that whole information scene was unnecessary?"

"That's a tough one," Ben said evenly. "On the one hand, it's a good idea to let me know what I'm up against but at the other hand, it did feel like an info-dump."

I sighed yet again. "Yeah, I had a feeling you were going to say something like that but I wasn't sure if you would."

"To be fair, I'm not sure how something like that could've been handled without looking like one," Ben added, giving me an encouraging smile. "Don't worry, Bigby. You still wrote a lot of cool stuff; you need to stop letting a few mistakes get you down." He looked at the audience. "Right everyone?"

"Yeah, Bigby," Sora called out. "Besides, the story's not even halfway done. You still have plenty of time and chapters to show how great it is."

"And you know you always have us for support," Goofy threw in. Nods and murmurs of agreement went out from the crowd. Well how could I not smile at that?

"Thanks, guys." I told them gratefully.

"Any more questions you want to ask me?" Ben questioned.

"Just one more and it's the big one," I declared. Once again an "Ooooh" went through the crowd. "How do you feel about the upcoming crossover within a crossover between _Bleach: Ultimate Alien_ and Incredible Muffin's _Unlimited Justice_?"

Ben laughed. "You were waiting to ask that one weren't you?"

I just smiled at him. "Well yeah. You've already been interviewed by the Incredible Muffin and we've both been eager for this dual-crossover thing. But I still want to know what you yourself think of it."

"Well I enjoyed being in _Unlimited Justice_ so I'm sure I'll enjoy this crossover."

"Oh really?" I asked hopefully.

"Sure. Wonder how you and Incredible Muffin are going to pull off me meeting my son from an entirely different timeline _and_ universe."

"I'll have to check with Incredible Muffin about that," I said. "This is a joint effort after all."

"Good point," Ben agreed. "Still, this won't be easy trying to juggle two different crossovers at the same time. Especially when you're using really different shows like _Bleach_ and _Justice League_. You up for the challenge, Bigby?"

My grin grew. "I say bring it. I've come too far to back down now _or_ ever again."

Ben grinned back. "Sounds good to me. So anything other questions you want to ask me?"

"Err," I scratched my head as I tried to think of anything else to ask Ben but I couldn't think of anything. "Sorry, man. I'm all out."

"It's cool," Ben told me.

"You sure?" I asked him.

"I've got one!" Kevin Levin called from where he, Gwen, and Ben had been sitting together. "Are Kevin and Gwen going to have a bigger part in the remake?" Now this definitely got some laughter from the others.

"Kevin!" Gwen chided him as per usual.

"What?" Kevin asked her. "Bigby keeps letting Ben have the spotlight and we get shoved to the side. Sure we can't do a lot of the stuff he can but we're not useless."

"That… is actually a fair question," I told him. "Uh at the moment I don't have any plans for you guys. The first part of the remake deals with the Winter War, so Ben will get all the focus. I'll see if I can give you guys some more in the second arc when Ben returns."

"Here's hoping," Kevin said grumpily as he crossed his arms. Gwen elbowed him in the side.

I put my hands at my sides, feeling a little put out by Kevin's words. Ben seemed to notice this.

"Don't worry, I'll talk to him later," Ben told me. "Remember, it's your story and you stick to what you think is best. As long as you do us all justice of course."

"I'd say that's a fair trade," I said. "So, Ben is there anything else on your mind? Any questions you want to ask me?"

"Nah, I think we covered everything," he said. "Besides, you still got some other stuff you want to talk about right? Don't let me hold you up."

"Alright, alright," I said before turning towards the audience. "Well thanks for being here, Ben." I held out my hand.

"Anytime, Bigby," Ben shook my hand. "Anytime."

I turned toward the audience. "Ben Tennyson, ladies and gentlemen!"

Everyone cheered and applauded the hero, who bowed graciously and waved at the audience as he made his way back to his seat.

"Okay, now let me see. What should I talk about next?" I asked, both to the audience and to myself.

"Bigby! Bigby!"

I turned to the direction of the voice and saw Anna at a table with Elsa, Kristoff, and Olaf; her hand raised high like a kid in school.

"I guess I'm doing Q&A next," I stage-whispered, which got me some light laughter. "Yes, Anna?"

"When are you going to get back to your story _The Snow Queen and the Winter Knight_?" she crossed her arms and huffed in mock anger. "You left that one unfinished too!"

"How did I know you were going to say that?" I said, pretending to be exasperated. Anna scowled at me thought to me it made her look adorable rather than intimidating. Kristoff grinned, Elsa tried covering her giggles with a hand, and Olaf just had a big smile on his face. "I'm playing, Anna, I'm playing. Coincidentally, I was actually going to bring that up next."

Anna raised a brow at me, clearly unconvinced. "Oh really?"

"Well that is the only other story I'm working on besides _Bleach: Ultimate Alien_ so of course that would be my next priority," I explained. "It's just…not as important right now."

Anna narrowed her eyes at me, causing her sister to put a placating hand on her shoulder.

"Anna, I'm sure Bigby knows what he's doing," Elsa said soothingly before looking over at me. "Right, Bigby?"

"Err, I don't know one hundred percent what I'm doing," I confessed before quickly adding. "But I am making progress!"

"So you're going through with the remake plan?" Kristoff asked.

"Yeah, it's for the best," I answered. "I like the story but I couldn't help noticing a lot of weak points. It's better for me to just start over."

"Anything you can, or want to, tell us about it?" Jack Skellington asked.

"Only that the story is going to start out as a non-crossover first," I replied to him, surprising everyone. "Yeah, my plan is for Daniel to have some adventures in Arendelle first, then I'll turn the story into a multi-crossover."

"Say, where is Daniel anyway?" Anna asked, looking around, as if she suddenly became aware that he wasn't with them.

"That's a good question," Elsa said as she started looking around too. "I'm surprised he's not here."

"And what about the Story-Keeper?" Olaf pointed out. By now everyone was looking around. Huh. I guess everyone wanted to meet Daniel and the Story-Keeper more than I thought they would.

"Err, they're not here right now," I admitted, rubbing my neck. "I honestly wasn't sure if you all wanted to meet them."

"Awww," Olaf whined. Anna and Elsa also looked put out. Now I felt bad for not having Daniel and the Story-Keeper come for at least their sake.

"So when are you going to start writing the story anyway?" Olaf asked, quickly getting over the absence of his friends. I was wondering when he was going to speak up.

"Err, good question," I said. "I haven't gotten that far. It's…still in the development stage."

Anna groaned, putting an arm on the table and resting her head against it. "You always say that, Bigby."

"I mean it this time!" I insisted. "I'm just a little disorganized, that's all."

"Oh a little?" Kairi asked playfully.

I shook my head at the sudden ganging-up. "What I can tell you is that I'm going not going to post the story until at least the first story, arc, segment, volume, whatever it is, is complete." Now that took everybody by surprise, judging from the way they were all staring at me. Guess it was time to elaborate. "I'm doing this so I don't starting posting a story and then lose interest in it before it's done. And so that I can triple-check my stories to make sure they're one hundred percent ready before uploading."

"I'm fine with your decision but I think you're trying too hard to see what's wrong with your work," Elsa said softly. "Sure your stories can be improved, that's the case for any story, but if you only look for the bad, you'll eventually stop seeing the good. Like Ben said, don't let a few mistakes get you down."

I crossed my arms. "I know, Elsa, I know. I just want my story to be great."

"It sounds more like you want your story to be perfect. Flawless," Kristoff added his two cents. "Sure there's nothing wrong with making something the best it can be but trying to make something absolutely perfect is impossible."

"I'm well aware of that," I said with a scowl. "But I want to make it as close to perfect as I possibly can."

"There's nothing wrong with wanting to do your best," Garnet said. "But don't let your need for perfection stop you from doing what really matters: having fun."

I put my hands in my pocket. I knew they weren't going to let this go but I didn't want to dwell on it. This was supposed to be a time of fun, not melancholy. "I understand, Garnet. But yeah all things aside _The Snow Queen and the Winter Knight_ is going to have a remake. That is a definite fact."

"This all sounds like quite the task, Bigby," Jack commented. "Are you sure you're up for it?"

"To be perfectly honest, I don't know," I confessed before I put on a determined look. "But I won't know unless I try. And besides, I already said I wouldn't back down anymore."

"That's the spirit!" Jack encouraged me. I couldn't tell if he was making a pun or not.

"Oh by the way, I'm twenty-six now," I said nonchalantly, waiting to see everyone's reaction. And they did not disappoint at all.

"What?!" Steven Universe shouted from his seat. "It's your birthday?!"

"September 11th was." I corrected.

"Why didn't you say something before?" Steven, the lover of birthdays that he was, cried. "We could have thrown a party for you!"

"Relax, Steven. It's okay. Besides I've been working a lot lately so we couldn't really do much if I had said anything."

"Wait, were you working on your birthday?" Marceline asked. "Why didn't you request the day off?"

"My manager wanted to give my birthday off but as she was making the work schedule for this week, she had forgotten. Besides, I'm used to working on my birthday so it wasn't that big a deal."

"Did you at least have cake and ice cream?" Steven pressed. He looked like he was still trying to wrap his head around the fact that he missed my birthday. Poor little guy. Maybe I shouldn't have said anything.

"Of course I had cake and ice cream, don't be silly. I also had some pizza for dinner and my manager got me cupcakes and ice cream cups to make up for having me work yesterday."

"Did you get any presents?" Jack inquired.

"The Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack from my mom," I said, causing the citizens of Halloween Town to smile happily "And a two big bags of candy corn from my manager."

"Why candy corn?" one of my newest friends, the superhero known as Ladybug asked, sitting across from her partner Cat Noir. (Or was it Chat Noir? I could never really tell)

"I don't know," he said, smiling mischievously at his partner, who he was also infatuated with. "Sounds like a really _sweet_ gift to me, my lady." Ladybug rolled her eyes at her partner's flirtatious nature and love of puns.

"Agreed Cat Noir," I said to the young hero. "The reason why my manager got me candy corn as a gift is because she knew it was my favorite candy and wasn't sure what else to get me. I certainly wasn't complaining about it."

"That sweet tooth of yours, Bigby," Riku joked, making everyone laugh again. They all knew that sweets were some of my biggest weaknesses.

"Oh ha ha," I grumbled.

"Well Happy Late Birthday, Bigby!" Steven said. "Sorry we missed it!"

"Happy Late Birthday, Bigby!" everyone shouted after him.

"Thanks, guys," I said gratefully, touched that they were still willing to wish me a late birthday. I clapped my hands together. I had one last surprise up my sleeve. "Well guys, I think that's enough of me talking. And while you might have missed my birthday, you guys can still celebrate the official part of the grand opening to Bigby's Den!"

Everybody cheered at the news. It might not be a birthday party but it was still going to be fun all the same. Food and drink were passed out by the staff of the Den. I made sure nothing alcoholic was served due to several underage participants being here, plus I don't drink myself. I'm too scared to think of what I might do if I ever did get drunk.

...

All in all, not a bad turnout. Maybe I could try and extend the invite more. Maybe the Normandy crew, the Vault Hunters from Pandora, hell maybe I could even see if the Outcast Blades could attend. Now that would be cool.

Once the food and drink were finished, it was time for everyone to be heading home. I waved goodbye as the crowd poured out from the Den and back to their respective worlds. I sat down in one of the tables, my legs and feet all but tired from today's events.

"Not bad, Bigby," I said to myself. "Not bad. But now I'm gonna have to bust my butt to make sure I can keep my guests entertained. And…" I grimaced as I thought of all the dirty dishes and cups leftover from the celebrating. "I really need to get a staff for this place."

 **End of Chapter**

 **Well, guys. This was the first chapter of the official Bigby's Den fic. Like I said in the story, I tried doing this thing more often at the end of some of my chapters but for some reason, it just didn't interest me then.**

 **How was the fic? I'm not gonna lie, I have a feeling it could have been better. But I've been so eager to get this out for a while. Aside from this and Bleach: Ultimate Alien, all my future work will only be posted if I manage to complete the entire thing, or at least a significant portion of it, first.**

 **And yeah, September 11th was my birthday. I am now officially 26 years old. Sheesh, time goes by, huh? I actually** **had** **meant to post this on my birthday but due to working on my birthday combined with proofreading this over and over again, the chapter was, as you can see, delayed.**

 **I'm just happy to get back into writing. I noticed that inspiration and motivation comes easier when I write by hand. I was going to try handwritten rough drafts and typewritten final drafts, but I felt that would take too long. So instead I just handwrite drafts of specific scenes. So far it seems to be working.**

 **I know they were only briefly mentioned but yes, I too have taken an interest in the cartoon Miraculous: The Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir aka Miraculous Ladybug. I recommend at least giving it a watch. The first episode is a little cheesy but it has an interest premise and so far pretty fun.**

 **On that note, I also have a request/challenge/thing. Would anyone be willing to write a Ben 10/Miraculous Ladybug crossover? I had considered writing it myself buuuut I already have projects I'm working on. If anyone happens to be interested in writing this, please feel free to PM me.**

 **Well that's really all I can think of for now so I'll let you guys go. See you all later!**


	2. Christmas Time at the Den

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in here except my own.**

 **Christmas Time at the Den**

Ah, Christmas, tied with Halloween for my favorite holiday. And what better way to express my love of Christmas than decorate the Den. Christmas lights hung all over the place, decorative snowflakes hung from the ceiling, and there was even a towering Christmas tree in the far corner. I rubbed my hands as the various characters from across fiction began pouring into the Den. Looks like some more Disney characters had come, I wonder if Sora had told them about this place. It looked like the Guardians of Childhood had joined the party, the Strawhats, even the Autobots! Still, there wasn't _as_ many people as I hoped there would be. I think it was because my club was still new. Maybe after a few more shows this place would really get attention. There was always the Dragon Ball world, the Fairy Tail guild, some of my buddies from the Final Fantasy worlds. D'oh! I just remembered, I hadn't heard from Twilight Sparkle or the rest of the Mane Six in a long time. I better make sure to send a letter or something to Equestria next time.

"Hey, Bigby," Good ole' Marceline said as she floated up to me. "How's it hanging?"

"Hey, Marceline," I greeted the Vampire Queen back. "Eh, so-so. Yourself?"

"Meh," Marceline replied with a shrug. "Can't complain. Saw the update you had for _Bleach: Ultimate Alien_."

I perked up. "Oh really? What did you think?"

"I think the story is moving forward, but the plot for the Ultimate Heroes crossover is going a little slow."

"I know, I know," I told her. "Don't worry. We'll be getting there."

"Cool, cool," Marceline said before grinning at me. "So, you need help starting the show again?"

I rolled my eyes at the playful jib. I was still nervous but also a lot more confident since my last show. I figured that I might as well give it a try this time.

"I _think_ I'm good," I told the Vampire Queen. She must have picked on my tone because she nodded understandably.

"Well, I'll be there to bail you out in case you choke again," Though she winked to show that she was still kidding.

"You're quite the motivational speaker," I replied dryly.

Marceline just grinned. "Merry Christmas, Bigby!" With that she went over to a table where the characters from Ooo were sitting. I took a moment to get a better look at the crowd. Looked like another full house, as well as some new comers. Sweet. Word had been getting around. Boy was I glad that I learned from the last night and gotten myself a little staff to help me keep the place maintained.

I waited a few more minutes to make sure everyone was inside before brushing my clothes off and making my way to the center of the stage. "Hello, everyone!" I called out to my audience. "And a Merry Christmas from Bigby's Den!"

"Merry Christmas, Bigby!" Everyone shouted back.

"It's great to see you all again, I know it's been awhile since last time," That got some laughter from the crowd. "Now, I don't know if what I've got planned today compares to that, but I hope it'll do."

"Aw, come on, Bigby," Jack Frost called from her table. "You know we like spending time with you just as much as you like spending time with us."

I smiled at him. "Thanks, Jack. I appreciate that."

"Is your family doing anything for Christmas, Bigby?" The Tooth Fairy asked me.

I shook my head. "Nah, we're just having a quiet time at home this year. We did decorate a tree. Sadly, we had to throw away the first one we bought and had to get a new one."

"What happened to your old tree?" Asami Sato asked. Christmas may not have been a holiday in her and Korra's world but at least they liked being involved.

"It started dying out even though we kept it watered," I explained. "We _did_ get the tree back in November though."

"Why did you get the tree so early?" Ben Tennyson asked me.

"Mom wanted to get our tree early, to avoid a hassle," I answered. "Pity it didn't quit work out. My brother thinks it was because we had the tree positioned right under the air conditioner and maybe the heat was causing the tree to die out, but it's all just guesswork."

"Sorry to hear about your tree problem, Bigby," Sora said.

Nicholas St. North, aka North, aka Santa Claus, nodded as he crossed his arms. "Always a shame when perfectly good tree goes before its time."

"Eh, it's no problem," I said with a reassuring smile. "Luckily we hadn't decorated the first tree so that was convenient."

"Was there anything you wanted for Christmas, Bigby?" Cinderella asked, her mouse friends Jacque and Gus sitting on her table.

"Not really," I replied. "I have loads of stuff and there's nothing that I couldn't just buy myself."

"Let me guess," Korra grinned. "More pens and notebooks?" I simply gave Korra an impassive look but I knew I wasn't fooling anyone if the amused chuckles from the audience were any indication. "Come on, Bigby. We all know how obsessed you are about handwriting things compared to typing them."

"I'm not obsessed, Korra," I told her firmly, which only made the Avatar cross her arms and smirk at me.

"Oh and how many notebooks and pens do you have lying around your house?" She ribbed.

I rolled my eyes. "Anyway, I'm thinking about buying Omega Ruby. My friend Nerfherder97 wants me to get either it since he already has Alpha Sapphire. That way we can have pokemon battles with each other."

"Why didn't you just ask to have that for Christmas?" North asked me, though his tone was more curious than shocked or upset.

"No. I still need a 3DS and I don't feel right asking someone else to get me both the game and the game console. I've recently gotten a raise at my job so I _am_ getting more money. Maybe after my next paycheck or so, _then_ I'll buy the 3DS and Omega Ruby. That aside, my family's just had a nice little Christmas at home. Unfortunately it was a warm Christmas this year so we didn't get any snow." That suddenly gave me an idea but I decided to file it away for later. "Now it's time to get one with the rest of the show."

"What _do_ you have planned for tonight's show, Bigby?" Ichigo Kurosaki shouted to me.

"Well, for starters, I have some put some more thought into my plans of becoming an official writer."

This got everybody's attention. "Oh? What do you have in mind, Bigby?" Bunnymund the Easter Bunny asked.

"Well," I began. "At the moment, I really don't have any ideas for writing a full-length novel so I've decided that I'm going to start my career by writing short stories."

"That's a good start," Gwen Tennyson said. "A lot of authors are known for short stories. Steven King, H.P. Lovecraft, Arthur Conan Doyle, Hans Christian Andersen…"

"Let me guess," Marceline spoke up, grinning at me. "You also picked short stories because you think writing them will be easier, don't you?"

I shot the Vampire Queen the most deadpan look I could manage.

"We know you, Bigby," Marceline said. "Always trying to take the easy road. Hey look, if you want to write short stories go for it. Just don't go thinking that a shorter story means you can slack off while writing it."

I slouched. "I know, Marceline. I know. I won't deny, I do thinking start with short stories would be better for me than trying to force myself to write a novel right off the bat. I doubt my first few stories will become any remotely close to best-sellers but I'd like to believe that they'll at least me on the map."

"All the same," Alice said, sitting with the Cheshire Cat, March Hare, and Hatter, the dormouse snoozing in a cup on their table. "We wish you the best of luck, Bigby, and hope you succeed in becoming a professional writer."

"You know you already have our support," Mulan pitched.

"Go for it, Bigby!" Luffy cheered for me, the rest of his crew following his sentiment.

"Well thank you, guys," I said, straightening my back out. "I do appreciate it. Next item today; I'm starting on the prologue to the remake of the _Snow Queen and the Winter Knight_ series. And yes, before anyone says anything, I _know_ it's about time."

More laughter from the audience; I could see those like Anna and Amethyst looking a little put out that I managed to beat them to the punch.

"Well, care to tell us anything about the story so far?" Anna asked, determined to have her say one way or another.

"Nothing that I haven't told you already," I said with a shrug before something came to me. I smacked my forehead. "Oh, right, _now_ I remember. I've decided that I'm going to write all my future stories like an actual book."

This seemed to confuse everyone. Okay, I'll admit that I was a little _too_ vague in my description. Well, time to go into specifics.

"What I mean is that I've been reading stories by a man named Ridley Pearson. For those of you not familiar with him, he is known for writing the Kingdom Keepers series. He's also the co-author, alongside his friend Dave Barry, of Peter and the Starcatchers, an alternate universe series to Peter Pan. His books have loads of chapters but they are of varying lengths. Some chapters are even just two to three pages long! Now I doubt I will ever write chapters _that_ short but…"

"I get it!" Nami put her fist in her open palm. "You think that by writing the way he does, you'll have shorter chapters…"

"But you'll be able to counter this by writing more chapters in a shorter amount of time," Nico Robin finished.

"In theory anyway. It's not a full-proof plan," I acknowledged. "But I'd like to think it's worth a shot."

"I don't see why it couldn't be," Franky the cyborg said, scratching his chin with one massive hand. "This, combined with your plan of posting stories only after they're complete, should allow you to finish your stories faster."

"You mean actually finish his stories for once!" Amethyst couldn't resist saying.

"Amethyst!" Pearl scolded her.

"Ow!" I said, putting a hand over my heart. "Ow! I tell you what; ow! I know you're speaking the truth Amethyst but come on! That's hitting below the belt right there!"

Amethyst shrugged but Garnet turned her head towards her fellow Gem. It was hard to tell what sort of face she was making behind her shades but it was obvious to all that she was probably giving Amethyst a stern look. It looked like the smaller Gem realized she was in trouble and withered under Garnet's intense gaze.

"I heard about you often start writing, only to suddenly stop and then delete your stories," Ladybug said with genuine curiosity. "Why _do_ you do that, Bigby?"

"Uh," I honestly wasn't expecting such a question tonight, mainly because everyone else already knew about my writing habits. Of course, since Ladybug was new to the gang, it made since that she wouldn't know yet. I decided to put what I had planned on hold to explain myself to her.

"Well, Ladybug, back when I was younger, I was extremely confident, oh heck, I was arrogant in my writing abilities. And I thought that once I had an idea, I would keep writing until that story was done."

"Unfortunately," Sanji said, before taking a puff of his cigarette and exhaling a fume of smoke. "Bigby made the majority of his stories on a whim and just wrote whatever came to mind."

"Once he ran out of his initial steam, he just couldn't get himself motivated to write more," Chad said from the table for Bleach characters.

I cringed, wondering if Chad was upset over that time I tried and gave up on writing a Total Drama and Bleach crossover with him as the main character.

"Not only that, but Bigby had a habit of making things up on the spot," Bumblebee said, several Autobots nodding in agreement. Oh crap. Were the Dinobots annoyed at me when I stopped writing that Transformers Prime story with them in it?

"So he had a habit of throwing in whatever he thought would improve the story?" Ladybug asked.

Sideswipe laughed. "More like he threw in whatever would make his story look _cool_ , which didn't always help the story, right Bigby?"

I scowled in annoyance but knew he had me there. "Okay, I'm willing to admit that I used to add a bunch of unnecessary stuff because, yes, I thought it would make my stories look "cooler". Of course much later I realized that all I did was make my stories look even more convoluted than they already were."

"Huh," Ladybug said, probably still trying to process all of this in her head.

"Another problem I had was that I posted the first draft of my work," I went on. "I didn't do rough drafts, proofread and then post a final draft. I was so full of myself that I thought I didn't _need_ a rough draft. I now know otherwise."

"Your storytelling still has room for improvement," Optimus Prime said to me. "But you are getting better, Bigby."

I smiled, always happy whenever I got compliments from somebody like Optimus. "Now, do you really mean that?" I asked playfully, pointing a finger in mock accusation at him. "Or are you just saying that to make me feel better?"

"He's being honest, Bigby," Ironhide pitched in. "Sure you're still a little rough around the edges but I'd say you're getting better."

I crossed my arms again, my brow furrowing. I would like to think that my storytelling had improved but I knew I still had a way to go. At least the writing itself was in the capable of hands of my friends Vandenbz and Pyromania101. Course I would try to improve the actual writing so they'd have less hassle when proofreading.

"Our next topic," I said, deciding not to hold up the show. "It's probably obvious by now but some troll has been going around the fanfiction site, harassing authors by using multiple accounts."

The audience gasped at my news.

"It's true," I told them. "The accounts were all created days after each other and they all use the same cliché flames like "Kill yourself" or "This is shit!" or "Worthless dumbass, just die!'""

"Bigby!" Pearl cried, her hands clamped onto Steven's ears. "Language!"

I was both surprised that Pearl was familiar with Earth curse words and sheepish that I had cursed in front of children like Steven. I'm cool with cursing compared to my teenage years but I still try to avoid cursing around kids.

"Sorry, Pearl," I apologized. "Anyway, at first I thought the guy was just targeting me at first so I simply blocked him and planned on annoying him by just writing my stories." I let out a snort. "I did plan on messing with the guy by adding him to my favorites list whenever he flamed me."

"Why would you do that?" Arcee asked.

"Like I said, to mess with the guy. I wanted him to be like "Okay, I'm bashing this guy's story and he's favoring me?!". I was going to keep doing this whenever he flamed me with a new account, hoping it drive him nuts and eventually give up."

Korra shook her head. "You're not good at letting things go, are you, Bigby?"

"Look who's talking," I said dryly. Korra shot me a look while Asami brought a hand to her mouth to cover her giggles. "Alright, now I started doing this at first, and then I learned that it wasn't just me this guy was bothering. Seeing this, I removed him from my favorites list, blocked any of his accounts that I could find out about, and put a note on my account warning other people about him."

Luffy frowned, punching his fists together. "Wish we could kick this guy's ass."

"I'm sure we all do, Luffy," I told him. "People like him think that hiding behind online personas make them untouchable. And sadly, I lack the resources and know-how to track this guy down. Hell, for all I know, the guy's not even in the same country as me."

"Would you really track him down if you could?" Elsa asked me, a light frown on her face.

"If I could afford it," I retorted, causing her frown to deepen and her eyes to narrow. "What? Somebody should teach that guy a lesson."

"So that means you're trying to try and pull a vigilante on us, Bigby?" Kristoff asked with a scoff.

"What, you don't think I could do it?" I challenged.

"If you were angry enough then yes," Alice said. "And in your anger, you would probably do something that ended up causing you more harm than good in the process."

"And probably scar that other guy for life," Kevin Levin added with a smirk.

I gave my audience the widest grin I could manage. "Great! That's the kind of pain that never goes away!"

"I thought that was emotional pain," Ben said casually.

"Same thing," I told him.

"Bigby…" Garnet said slowly, her gaze fixed on me. "No. If by some lucky chance you find the whereabouts of this person, report him to the proper figures and let them deal with it."

"~Garnet!" I said in a false, whiny tone, slouching forward like a depressed kid being denied his favorite toy. "~You never let me have any fun anymore!"

Kevin shuddered at my display. "Bigby…don't ever do that again."

"~Awww but Keviiiiin!" I whined at him.

"Bigby, I swear I'll…" Kevin started to threaten before Gwen put a hand on his shoulder.

"What Kevin is _trying_ to say, Bigby," The Anodite-Human hybrid said her placating tone more towards Kevin than me. "Is that he is uncomfortable with the way you're talking and would appreciate it if you would talk normally."

"Suuure he does," I couldn't help said, my tone full of sarcasm. "But okay, Gwen, since you asked so nicely, I'll stop."

"You're just going to use another tone instead aren't you?" Kevin asked in a deadpan tone.

"Probably," I admitted unapologetically. "But getting back to what I was saying before, that troll guy's trash and he tries to make himself feel better by annoying people who are clearly superior to him. The best thing we authors on the fanfiction site can do is block the loser and just continue writing our stories like he doesn't exist. The fact that we're still writing despite his harassing should eventually annoy him to the point where he'll realize that he's just wasting his breath, and that's no great loss either."

"That's Bigby for ya," Donald Duck said. "Even if he can do anything, he'll always find some way to get the better of someone else."

"What can I say, Donald. When it comes to the internet, words are your only weapons and you got to figure out the best way to use them, whether it's direct or indirect."

"You think this guy will ever stop, Bigby?" Goofy asked.

"Hard to say. I haven't seen any more reviews from him, but I don't know if he finally gave up or if he's just lying low. Only thing we can really do is hope for the best but prepare for the worst."

"That's very optimistic of you," Leonardo told me sardonically.

"I consider it being practical."

"So, Bigby," Michelangelo raised his hand. "When do we eat, man? I'm starving!"

"Relax, Mikey," I reassured him. "A few more announcements and then we'll eat. I promise." I turned back to the rest of the audience. "Next, I'm considering writing a collection of one-shots. A bunch of ideas I wanted to write about, but don't have enough time or inspiration for making them into multi-chapter stories. This is another way for me to get my ideas out of my head without going through my usual routine of starting a story and then dropping it."

"Well, as long as it helps your writing, Bigby. Do you think you might turn one of those one-shots into an actual story someday?"

"I wouldn't say it's impossible but I could never say for certain. Only time will really tell. Next, and here's a big one." I paused to keep the others in suspense. "You see, I have taken an interest in another series." There was stirring and several gasps from the crowd. "That's right! I have officially gotten into _JoJo's Bizarre Adventure_!"

"What made you get into JoJo, Bigby?" Rukia asked me. "That series is pretty…well, _bizarre_."

"Oh trust me, that series may be a little coco but it's definitely more serious than a series like _Bobobo-bo Bo-bobobo_." That earned a collective cringe from my audience. I guess even they felt that series was too weird for their tastes. Wonder what they thought of _Gintama_. "Anyway, why did I get into JoJo? Well, I think it was because I remembered it years back, when I was skimming a brief part of it in a Shonen Jump magazine. Even though I was more absorbed into other series at the time, I never quite forgot about _JoJo's Bizarre Adventure_ and desire to find out what that series was about _._ Finally, when I was all caught up in every other anime series I was into, I decided to finally give this one a chance. Now, I was thrown off when I learned the series was divided into, currently, eight parts, and that Part 3 _: Stardust Crusaders_ was the first American released version. Of course, it's always good to start from the beginning so I went to Part 1 _: Phantom Blood_ , which I read on a website called KissManga. It's crazy how…different _Stardust Crusaders_ and onward are compared to _Phantom Blood_ and Part 2: _Battle Tendency_. All the same the series has me hooked. I even managed to get my head manager into the series. She really liked how there was actually a character named Robert E.O. Speedwagon in it. Sadly, I couldn't really get my brother into it. But, to each his own."

"Uh oh," Ben said in overly dramatic concern. "I think I know where this is going. Bigby, you said you weren't going to make any more spur of the moment stories."

"Well, I never used those exact words now did I?" I pointed out to him. "But, you are onto something there, Ben. One of the reasons I brought up JoJo, other than announcing my interest in the series, is the fact that I am intrigued by the idea of writing my own JoJo's Bizarre Adventure crossover. In the future anyway. I've already get several projects lined up."

"How many projects _do_ you have, Bigby?" Dipper said, sitting with his twin Mabel and their grunkles Stan and Ford.

"I'm so glad you asked, Dipper," I began digging into my pockets. "Now I had that thing in here somewhere."

Mabel cringed. "Oh no. Don't tell me you've started one of those overcomplicated checklists like my brother does, Bigby."

"Mabel," Dipper hissed at his sister, definitely not thrilled about his more embarrassing moments being brought up.

"Found it," I pulled out a folded piece of paper. Mabel looked worried as I started to unfold it but let out a sigh of relief when she saw that it was a normally folded piece of paper instead of that mammoth of one her brother had made.

"Why did you bring a list of your projects, Bigby?" Orihime asked.

"Oh I always carry this with me," I explained. "That way I can keep better track of what I'm working on." I skimmed my list. "Now let me see. Naturally we have my upcoming Frozen story. And then we have my _Bleach: Ultimate_ story, plus me crossing it over with Incredible Muffin's _Unlimited Justice_ and Blazorna Ibara's _Troubles of a Misplaced Hero_. That reminds, I started reading it all the way from the beginning to make sure there wasn't anything I missed. I need to get back to that."

"Bigby," Tiana, who was sitting with her husband Prince Naveen, politely interrupted my thoughts. "Your list?"

"Heh, sorry about that. Anyway, a pal of mine called the Porter wants to collaborate with me on remaking Ten Piece."

Ben and Luffy raised their heads at this.

"I heard you gave your chapters to a guy called Spartan of Chaos," Zoro said.

"Well, I suggested he and Porter could do a collaboration but since Spartan wanted to do his own thing with Ten Piece, I let him. He can do that, while Porter and I do our own version of a crossover between One Piece and Ben 10. Speaking of that, another friend called Darkmachines is hoping we can do an alternate version of a Bleach crossover with Ben 10. Darkmachines is hoping we can use some of his original characters like his Arrancar Skullak."

"Skullak," Harribel crossed her arms. "I remember hearing about him. Isn't Cirucci his wife?"

"Yep, Skullak has a pretty sizeable harem."

"Who's Ben gonna hook up with in this story?" Kevin asked jokingly.

"Well Darkmachines doesn't think Ben needs a love interest in this one," I answered. "Meh. If we _can_ pull off a pairing for Ben, I'm all up for it. If we can't, well, no great loss either."

"Ow!" Kevin laughed. "Hear that, Ben? No great loss."

"Oh no, no, I didn't mean it like that!" I said hastily, holding my hands out. "If I can pull off a pairing convincingly, then I'm all up for making it. But if the pairing just looks forced, then I'd not going to bother."

"Are you sure you'll be alright with that decision, Bigby?" Princess Aurora asked. Everyone had a look on their faces that implied they were all thinking the same exact thing.

"Oh I'll admit it will take some getting used to, but I've written stories without romantic subplots before. I'm sure I can do it again," I replied before looking back at my list. "I also got a request from my friend Mace sheperd, the author of _The Multiverse Travels of Ben 10._ Now, unlike Darkmachines, he doesn't want me to do a Ben 10 crossover. Mace wants my help in writing a crossover between the video game _Dead Space_ and the classic book series _The Animorphs_."

"A crossover between _Animorphs_ and _Dead Space_?" Eugene, formerly Flynn Rider, tilted his head. "Is that a good idea for a crossover, Bigby?"

I shrugged my shoulders again. I think I was doing that a little too much during this show. "I'll admit that a crossover like this might be challenging but I still find it to be a very possible crossover. Mace is the brains behind this story so I'll write it how he wants it. Maybe see if I can come up with a few ideas to help out."

"Don't bite off more than you can chew, Bigby," Pearl cautioned me. "I understand you want to help your friends but you do have a habit of saying you'll do something before actually seeing if you can do it."

"You're absolutely right, Pearl," I pointed a finger for emphasis. "I'm sure that if I work at my own pace, plus my new writing strategies, then I should be able to accomplish my projects. Especially since I'm trying to work out the details for my last one. So far anyway."

Pearl groaned. "Oh I should have known. Bigby, you really need to just focus on one story at a time. We've all established that, why can't you follow through with it?"

"I'm not about to start this project right now. I'm just letting everyone know in advance so that they know what to expect," I cleared my throat. "Now as I was saying, I'm thinking about _trying_ to do a crossover that has never been done, as far as I know. I have seen so many _Ben 10_ crossovers lately; _Bleach, Fairy Tail, Transformers, Mass Effect, Justice League, Danny Phantom, RWBY, Teen Titans, Avatar: The Last Airbender_. That reminds me, nobody has gotten back to me on my request for a _Ben 10_ crossover with _Miraculous Ladybug_. I thought at least somebody would want to write that."

"Bigby!" Princess Bubblegum shouted, causing me to jump. "Focus!"

"Alright, alright, can't a guy muse to himself anymore? Sheesh," I brushed my jacket off. "Look, bottom line is that after seeing all these crossovers with Ben 10 become commonplace, I want to write a crossover that's unique, never thought of before, once again, as far as I know. And it's why I brought up the new series I was into before."

Ben raised both his eyebrows at this news. "Are you saying…"

"That's right!" I punched the air for emphasis. "I want to write a _Ben 10_ crossover with _JoJo's Bizarre Adventure_."

"Oh no!" Kevin smacked his forehead. "Bigby's gone and done it again!"

"A crossover between our series and JoJo," Gwen cupped her chin as she mused the thought over. "Well, I do think it make a little more sense than a crossover with Bleach. Uh no offense, Ichigo."

"None taken," Ichigo said coolly.

"Okay, now I'll admit, this is also only in the planning stage," I assured everyone. "I'm still trying to think of what the actual plot would be and how your stories cross over together. I have a few ideas but nothing is final and like always, all ideas are welcomed."

"How exactly is a crossover between our series and JJBA supposed to work?" Kevin asked. "The people in that universe have powers that can only be seen by other people with those kinds of powers. Uh, what are they called again?"

"They're called Stands and trust me, Kevin," I replied. "That was the first thing I took into consideration. Now, the best way for Ben to be able to face Stand Users without a forced explanation is simple: Ben gains a Stand."

Ben sat straight up. "A Stand? You're giving me a Stand in your story?"

"At the moment that's how it looks," I quickly pointed out. "The tricky part is coming up with a Stand power for you. I've got the appearance down, I just need the powers and name."

"Aren't all Stands named after musicians, songs and albums?" Amethyst asked. "How hard can it be to find a name?"

"I'm worried all the good ones are taken."

"Why does it have to be a music name?" Sora asked. "Couldn't you just call it any name you want?"

"Well, yeah, but I want to be faithful to the source material," I explained. "I mean, I could use always something like Champion from Queens or maybe All Star by Smash Mouth."

"Well that sounds pretty cool," Ben said, apparently interested in my story idea. "So, what about my Omnitrix? Do I keep that _and_ whatever Stand you give me?"

"I've been thinking about that too, Ben," I tapped my chin. "Naturally having a Stand is necessary for you to fight the Stand Users of the JoJo universe. But your Omnitrix provided you with such a wide variety of abilities that I couldn't think of a Stand that could possibly come close to it. So for the moment, I'm thinking about maybe giving you a Stand with more support based powers, allowing you to still require the Omnitrix to fight. Unless of course you wanted a Stand that did more of the fighting for you."

"Well, I did see some pictures of _JoJo's Bizarre Adventure_ and that one Stand, Star Platinum, looked pretty cool," Ben said. "Couldn't you just give me an Omnitrix that lets me turned into Stands instead of aliens?"

I laughed. "Would you believe me if I told you I actually _had_ considered giving you something like that. But no. Not only would that make you extremely overpowered, depending on what Stands I gave you, I just don't see how I could possibly create an Omnitrix that turns the wielder into Stands of all things. I'm worried that would be way too contrived."

"He does have a point," Gwen added. "Especially since Stands are nothing like DNA. It looks like Bigby's idea of giving you more of a supportive Stand makes the best sense. For now anyway."

"Alright, fine," Ben said in resignation. "But hey, if you ever come up with more ideas for this crossover, let me know. I am curious about it now."

"I'm more worried about Bigby wasting his time with this idea then working on his actual stories," Kevin retorted, giving me the Stink Eye. "Right, Bigby?"

I smiled sheepishly. "Okay, you got me. I have been giving this new idea a bit more attention than my current work. But I wanted to let you guys know about this first and then I'll get back to my main stories. I promise."

"Bigby," Anna put her hands on her hips. "Even though we know you mean well, you're not really good at keeping your promises."

"Okay, okay, fine!" I shouted. "Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!"

Stan Pines guffawed at me. "He actually did a Pinkie Promise! I don't believe it!"

"Now I won't lie, I probably will make notes on my other story ideas but I will work on my actual stories too. Honest!" I promised.

"Alright, Bigby," Elsa said, putting a hand on her sister's shoulder. "We trust you."

I sighed, that little reaction taking more out of me than I thought it would. "Phew. Now that that's settled, I think it's time for us to finally eat. Hope you guys all like pizza."

"Pizza?!" The Ninja Turtles all shouted happily.

"You actually ate pizza for dinner?" Jack asked, grinning.

"My family was tired of turkey and ham," I said. "I think we overdid it on our Thanksgiving dinner."

North looked scandalized. Ham was a traditional Christmas so the thought of eating something else instead, like pizza, must've been shocking to him.

I snapped my fingers and living suits of armor began coming out of the kitchen, carrying plates of various pizza and drinks.

Belle laughed as she saw the armors walking around serving food. "Armor, Bigby?"

"I like armor," I said. "So I picked up a few tips from Beast's castle and Hotel Transylvania."

"And they know how to cook pizza?" Sanji asked as some armor placed food down at the crew's table.

"Oh no the pizza was ordered from pizza restaurants across the multiverse."

"Uh, Bigby, how did you get the money to pay for all of this?" Marceline asked, helping herself to some red from a pepperoni.

"Oh, I made a fortune during my old multiverse adventuring days," I replied smugly. "And this isn't even going to put a dent in my finances. Pity multiverse money is no good back in my world or I'd be the richest man on the planet."

"Aw, nice!" Amethyst shoved an entire pizza into her mouth, Pearl grimacing at her fellow Gem's lack of manners.

"Well, everyone, dig in!" I declared. Just as everybody was about to eat, my thought from earlier came back to me. "Oh and Elsa?"

"Yes?" The queen of Arendelle responded.

"Since I wasn't able to experience a white Christmas this year," I put my hands together in pleading. "Could you…"

Elsa smiled, showing her shining white pearls. "Sure thing, Bigby." She got up from her table, raised her hands and fired a ball of magic into the air. The ball bursts into snowflakes that began sprinkling down onto us.

"Hey!" Michealangelo cried out. "Don't get snowflakes on the pizza."

"It's just water," Kristoff pointed out to him. "You'll be fine!"

"Thanks, Elsa!" I gave her a salute. Everyone else applauded Elsa, who gave them a flourishing bow before sitting down beside Anna again.

"Well, everyone. Dig in!"

…

Soon the pizza was devoured and everyone was sitting back, well-fed and content.

"Hey, Bigby," Anna said. "Since it's Christmas and all, how about listening to a Christmas song before we end the show?"

I think I smiled my biggest grin yet. "That's a brilliant idea, Anna. And I think I've got the perfect song in mind. You guys all up for a little singing?"

"Sure," Marceline said.

"I'm up for it," Amethyst raised her hand.

"Yeah, let's sing!" Luffy punched the air.

One by one, everyone else seemed to agree about singing a Christmas song.

"Alright, everyone," I raised a hand. "Here we go!"

I snapped my fingers and music began to fill the air. It was a cheerful, upbeat down that seemed to fit the Christmas spirit.

"I'll start off!" I said. "~ _It's in the singing of a street corner choir, it's going home and getting warm by the fire. It's true, where ever you find love, it feels like Christmas!"_

"~ _A cup of kindness that we share with another,"_ Anna sang. _"A sweet reunion with a friend or a brother. In all the places you find love, it feels like Christmas_!"

"~ _It is the season of the heart_ ," Elsa picked up. " _A special time of caring. The ways of love made clear_!"

Steven Universe went next. " _It is the season of the spirit. The message if we hear it_ _is 'Make it last all year!"_

" _~It's in the giving of a gift to another_ ," Ladybug sang. " _A pair of mittens that were made by your mother."_

" _~It's all the ways that we show love that feel like Christmas_!" We sang together.

" _~A part of childhood we'll always remember_ ," The Ninja Turtles sang together. " _It is the summer of the soul in December. It's when you do your best for love, it feels like Christmas!"_

" _~It is the season of the heart_!" I sang. "A _special time of caring. The ways of love made clear."_

" _~ It is the season of the_ spirit!" We all sang together. _"The message if we hear it, is 'Make it last all_ year'!"

Several of the audience began getting up and dancing with each other, moving rather quickly despite the fact that they had just eaten. I smiled at the scene of my friends being so happy.

"~ _It's in the singing of a street corner choir_ ," I sang again. " _It's going home and getting warm by the fire. It's true, where ever you find love, it feels like Christmas. It's true, where ever you find love, it feels like Christmas. It feels like_ Christmas! _It feels like_ Christmas! _It feels like Christmas_!" Slowly the music began dying down. "Merry Christmas, guys! And Happy New Year!"

"Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, Bigby!"

"Goodnight, everyone! See you next time!"

One by one my friends began filing out of the Den while the suits of armor began collecting all the dirty dishes. The Autobots made sure everyone else had left before them so they didn't step on anyone by accident. Phew. What a day this had been for me. But you know, it was still a pretty good Christmas to me.

"It's true wherever you find love," I sang to myself as I walked off the stage. "It feels like Christmas."

 **End of Chapter**

 **Merry Christmas everybody! Well guys, that concludes another chapter of Bigby's Den. Hope you all enjoyed it. I am trying to get more characters into the show so if there is any you want to see, feel free to let me know. Yes, I am planning on doing a series of one-shots and yes, I am brainstorming ideas for a Ben 10/JoJo's Bizarre Adventure crossover. Yes, I am going to work on the stories I actually have up but that doesn't mean I can't plan a little in advance. Hey if anyone has a decent idea for a Stand for Ben or just ideas in general, feel free to PM me. My door is always open to new ideas and suggestions.**

 **I think I pretty much covered all I wanted to talk about it in the actual chapter itself so I'm going to head out now. Once again, Merry Christmas, everyone. And if I don't manage to update before then, have a Happy New Year!**


	3. Return to the Den

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters here except for the original characters, primarily my Self-Insert.**

 **Chapter 3: Return to the Den**

I winced as I made my way backstage. These past few days have been relatively rough for me, more physically then mentally since I was digging out some bushes from around my house. Seriously, one of the roots was so thick that I had to use a saw to cut through it. But despite the soreness in my legs and wrists, I had to do this. Okay, maybe I didn't really _have_ to, but I definitely wanted to.

I peeked through the curtain and I was surprised to see a full house. I honestly thought the lack of appearances by me caused everyone to think the Den had closed down. It makes me happy to know that all my pals were still willing to come. I really need to find a way to make it up to them. Somehow.

Unfortunately my stage fright was back and this time it had mixed with the nervousness I felt towards my friends' reactions. It was taking all my willpower to even take a single step outside the curtain. I closed my eyes shut and clenched my fists tightly to calm my nerves. Once they had settled down, I decided it was best to get on stage before they shot back up again.

I burst through the curtain and stood in full view of everyone gathered. "Hello, everyone!" I shouted a little louder than I intended, mentally cursing at myself. If my audience minded, they certainly didn't show it. Instead they greeted me in turn with a loud applause. I could pick up a few cheers here and there from the crowd but couldn't pinpoint their location. "I know this has been long overdue but I would like to thank one and all for coming here and I welcome all of you to another night of Bigby's Den!" My audience clapped their hands and this time I could hear a few "Whoop-Whoop!" from them. I grinned, feeling a lot better than I had been earlier.

"Man, how time flies," I went on. "I can't believe our last time together was back at last year's Christmas!"

"You really had us worried there," Ladybug said in concern. "Not just for the Den but because you hadn't updated any of your work since the beginning of the year."

"Don't remind me," I mumbled, running a hand down my face. Although I was one hundred percent annoyed with myself, my actions were found amusing by my patrons. "I still couldn't believe it when I checked _Bleach: Ultimate Alien_ and saw that my last update was, like Ladybug said, the beginning of the year."

"Did something happen over the year that affected your writing?" I looked up at the addressee and my mood lifted when I saw it was none other than Twilight Sparkle, sitting with the rest of the Mane Six.

"Hey, Twilight! Glad you and the girls could make it! Hey, I saw the season finale. Really enjoyed it. Not sure when I'll get it but I do plan on watching the movie." Twilight seemed taken aback by my enthusiastic greeting but she smiled nonetheless. When her smile changed to bewilderment and then a frown, I guess she assumed I was trying to change the subject so I quickly went on. "As for your question, Twilight, as I already explained to my readers in my latest chapter, my interest in _Ben 10_ and _Bleach_ just isn't what it used to be." My eyes darted across the crowd to see if I could spot Ben and or Ichigo. "No offense to you guys."

"I…guess I can't really blame you," Ben said, my eyes finally landing on him. He was sitting at a table close to the left side of the stage, Gwen and Kevin naturally sitting beside him. "I heard a lot of fans have been divided over my series lately. Especially Omniverse and that reboot the writers did."

"Let's not talk about that," I said hastily. "Let's just saw that I'm not the biggest fan of the reboot and move on."

Ben gave me a light smile. "But I am glad you did update, Bigby. And it was a pretty long chapter. But I thought you were going to do shorter chapters for faster updates from now on. Whatever happened to that?"

I froze at Ben's question, comprehension dawning on me. "Uh," Was the best I could think of to say. Unfortunately this left me wide open for Kevin.

"Don't tell me," He said with a smirk. "You forgot, didn't you?"

I cringed. "Well, would you believe me if I said partially?"

"I would if you were a little more convincing," Kevin said. "You actually forgot your own writing strategies. Wow, Bigby, you really have been out of the game a long time."

"Everything worked out though, didn't it?" I lifted my head and saw Ichigo sitting at a far back table. "Bigby covered a lot of ground in the new chapter and given how long it's been, he needed a really long chapter." Ichigo turned towards me and shot me a sympathetic look. "Sorry to hear that you're not as interested though."

I know Ichigo wasn't trying to guilt trip me but the way he seemed so accepting of my problem felt like a punch to the gut. "I'm sorry, Ichigo. I…" My words died on me as I tried to think of what exactly I could say.

"I understand, Bigby," Ben said reassuringly. "We've gone over this before, right? Lots of people don't like how my series was going. Some people started hating it during Alien Force."

"I heard a lot of people complained about the Hueco Mundo arc onward for me," Ichigo added. "But even though you're not as into our series as you used to be, thanks for still sticking it out, Bigby."

"Of course, Ichigo," I said quickly. "I…"

"We know, Bigby," Marceline said, speaking up for the first time since she got here. "You don't plan to give up on your stories anymore. We've heard it plenty of times." She gave a toothy grin to show there was no bite (No pun intended) in her words.

"I hate when I get repetitive," I grumbled, though loud enough for my audience to hear me, which earned me a few chuckles and giggles.

"Still," Pearl spoke up. "The lack of activity from you was concerning. While the decrease of interest explains your delay in updating _Bleach: Ultimate Alien_ , it doesn't explain why you haven't been doing, well, _anything_. Not even those, what do you call them, "Songfics"? If it hadn't been for you reviewing the stories of others, it would have looked like you vanished completely."

For the moment, all I could do was cross my arms at Pearl's words. "It's…a few reasons actually. I'm not going in any particular order but here's what I think happened." A lot of people shifted in their seats, looking at me expectantly. I understood their interest but it still irked me.

"First off, my laptop broke," I explained, catching a lot of people by surprise. "At least, I think it did. One day, I was about to log into my laptop as usual but after typing in my password, it told me that Group Client Policy wouldn't let me in or something. My family was doing scans for my computer and I think they found out that a lot of parts were dying out, such as the cooling fan. I guess it's just that my laptop was on its' last legs and it was letting me know. Luckily, I had an older laptop that I could still use. It's the one I've been using to post my _Bleach: Ultimate Alien_ fic. It works fine but the battery is shot so I can only use it when it's plugged into the wall. And since I don't want to ring up my family's electric bill, I've been kinda avoiding my laptop, preferring to simply read fanfiction with my phone."

"And staying off your laptop killed off your mood to write anything," Twilight concluded.

"Why don't you just buy a new laptop then?" Rainbow Dash asked me.

"I've been meaning to, problem is my finances are really…lackluster," I told her. "Aside from using my money to help out at the house, a lot of it goes to my student loans and bills."

"Knowing you, you're probably blowing the rest of your money on snacks instead of saving," Kevin predictably snarked.

"Don't remind me," I snapped at him. "But he's got a point. I have a habit of wasting my money on snacks, sodas, or anything that catches my interest. It's all small stuff but, overtime, the small stuff can build up."

"I think another reason is because, since you _have_ a functioning laptop, despite its flaws, there's no immediate reason for you to buy a new one, so you're not saving your money for it," The ever analytical Nico Robin spoke up from her seat.

"Good point," I admitted with a nod.

"Is that it though," Amethyst asked skeptically. "You've stopped writing just because you have to use an old laptop?"

"That's mostly the reason, now that I think of it," I replied.

"Were there any other reasons?" Usopp asked me.

I scratched the back of my head. "Yeah, I didn't give it much thought at first but now, I'm starting to think another reason is because I'm still stuck on what to write for a non-fanfiction book."

"Are you _still_ having problems with your "originality" issue?" Rukia, who was sitting beside Ichigo, huffed in annoyance. "Bigby, people have said this over and over again to you: nothing is one hundred percent original anymore. What matters is how you spin the story in your own way."

"I know that, Rukia, I know. Everyone's been telling me that, just like you said."

"So why are you stilling having trouble?" She pressed.

"You're scared of how well your first story's going to turn out," Sanji spoke up before I could respond, taking a whiff of his cigarette. "It's just like with your fanfiction. You're scared of putting so much time and effort into your work, only for it to be shot down because it doesn't meet the standards of publishers and editors."

"That's something you'll need to get over, Bigby," Garnet said. "Remember the first time you opened the Den and we told you how you can't please everyone with your fanfiction? That goes to non-fanfiction works as well. Lots of stories have been rejected many times before they were finally published. J.K. Rowling's first Harry Potter story was rejected twelve times before it was published."

"I heard about that before," I said. "My brother told me that one day while we were shopping."

"Since you like Stephen King's works," Robin said. "I heard his story Carrie was rejected thirty times before it was published."

"Thirty times?!" I shouted, this time being completely floored. "His first ever novel was rejected _thirty times_?!"

"Basically, Bigby," Ladybug said. "Just like how there will be people who don't like your fanfiction, there will be people out there who won't find your actual stories worth publishing."

"But you can't let that stop you anymore than you should let it stop you from writing fanfiction," Cat Noir added. "If authors like J.K. Rowling and Stephen King gave up, we never would have gotten to enjoy their stories like we do now."

"But how many rejections am _I_ going to have to go through?!" I cried. "Are publishers going to shoot me down twenty or thirty times too? What if I can't find a single one out there who thinks my stories are worth turning into a book?"

"Okay, I seriously doubt that your stories are going to be rejected by every single publisher in the world, or even just in your country," Pearl said.

"That doesn't mean you shouldn't put any effort," Twilight pointed out. "Publishers won't accept stories that are just a bunch of things thrown into together."

"So be absolutely thorough with your work, darling," Rarity said. "Being an author is a lot of hard work but it can pay off if you have the patience and dedication."

"But you do need to get some thicker skin too," Applejack said, her words drawing everyone's attention onto her. "No offense to you, Bigby, but your self-esteem is really fragile."

"Yeah," Rainbow Dash said. "I like getting attention and praise too, but the moment you find out there's somebody who doesn't like what you're doing, it hits you pretty hard."

"Like Garnet said, we already told you that you can't please everyone," Marceline said to me. "You need to really take that to heart if you want to get anywhere."

Silence was the only response I could give at this point, anything else felt…well anything else like I was just trying to change the subject. I knew they all had a point but I was never really good with failures and losses. I know it's too much to access for success every single step of the way, but at the same time it's hard if you're faced with a string of repeated failures. Granted, something like that's never happened to me, but the sheer possibility of it was what scared me. Marceline was right though, I needed to take the advice of my friends, _all_ of my friends, both here and in the real world, to heart. It was a lot better than sitting around expecting something to happen.

"Thanks, everyone," I said quietly. "Sorry about that, but I feel we got a little off track. Bottom line is that a lot of factors happened to me over this year and they each contributed one way or another to my lack of writing. Hopefully, I'm taking a step in the right direction and have gotten back into it. Now, before I start rambling again, let's get down to the nitty gritty. One, as we've all established, I finally updated _Bleach: Ultimate Alien_. Ben, what did you think of it?"

"I liked it," Ben replied with a smile. "I was surprised that you actually brought back the Oasis from the original version."

"Well I've wanted to bring the Oasis back for some time, but for the life of me, I could never think of a way to pull it off that didn't look forced. I think the problem was I kept trying to make you come up with the idea, Ben. But since there was still so much you didn't know about the _Bleach_ Universe, it just didn't look right to. It wasn't until I thought of it being Aizen or Szayel's idea, that the pieces started falling into place."

"The fight against Baraggan and his Fraccion was pretty cool too," Ben went on. "Where'd you get the idea for that?"

"Funny thing that. See, I was originally planning a sparring match between you and Harribel, because I want more interactions between you two. But at the same time, I was worried that it was going to look out of place. So I asked the Incredible Muffin for a second opinion. He did feel that a sparring match this late in the story looked forced, but then he suggested I could try having you and Harribel work together against somebody else. Though he also recommended that I make sure Harribel isn't helpless and requires you to bail her out. Baraggan was the only person I could think of that you two would _need_ to team up for. One, because he's the most powerful character currently antagonistic towards you, two, his abilities _are_ ridiculously overpowered so teamwork is practically mandatory, and three, I'm still working out the battle in Fake Karakura Town, but I've got a strong feeling you won't be fighting Baraggan there, so I decided to make the fight in the Oasis as a way to make up for it. I also wanted to show that the training of Harribel's Fraccion was paying off, since I realized that I kept having you and the girls fight to a draw."

"Makes sense but it looks like you had to delay the finale for the Ultimate Heroes crossover arc," Ichigo spoke up. "So that's coming next chapter?"

"That's right. Ben and Ken will finally cross paths with each other and face the fallout of this encounter."

"So, after Ultimate Heroes, what about that crossover arc with Blazorna Ibara?" Gwen asked. "Is that still going on? If so, when does that start?"

"Ooooh, good question," I rubbed my chin. "I need to get back in touch with Blazorna and see about that. I've been off the grid for a little too long."

"So you still need to plan out that part too?" Ichigo inquired.

"Blazorna and I shared some ideas but nothing completely solid yet," I confessed. "I have to check with him to see if he's changed his mind on anything."

"Or if he even wants to still do the crossover," Amethyst remarked.

"Amethyst!" Pearl cried.

"What? Bigby's been gone awhile so it's possible Blazorna's no longer interested."

"I think he still is, but you do have a good point, Amethyst," I said as I put my hands in my pocket. "I'll check with him soon and see what's up."

"I'm guessing this means you're going to leave us in the dark about the arc between you and Blazorna then," Kevin commented.

"For now."

"Why am I not surprised," Kevin said, earning a kick under the table from Gwen.

"Hey, Bigby!" Anna called from her table. "What about your _Snow Queen and the Winter Knight_ story? How's that looking?"

"Oh I'm glad you asked!" I beamed. "The writing still needs to be kickstarted, sadly, but thanks to the help of my pal Animeguy1101, combined with ideas from Incredible Muffin and Diablo Ex Machina, I've got more of a solid plan now. Incidentally, the name is going to be changed. The story is no longer called the _Snow Queen and the Winter Knight_."

Anna blinked in surprise at this news while Elsa simply looked curious.

"You changed the title?" Elsa asked. "What is it called now?"

"I call it, _The War of Tales_ ," I said in a low, deep voice, hoping it would make the reveal more dramatic.

" _The War of Tales_ ," Anna repeated, testing the name out.

"Yep. My friends gave me some new ideas to add to the story and while this means some changes are going to be made, I honestly believe these ideas will improve the story rather than hinder it."

"What are the changes?" Orihime asked me, leaning forward in her seat.

"Well I'm not sure how much I can tell you without it being spoilers…but I have made some changes with the conflict between the Story-Keeper and the Shrouded Queen, plus Elsa and Daniel will not be alone in their adventures across the multiverse."

"You're given them a team?" Ben asked in surprise. I didn't confirm, nor deny this claim. Though the smile on my face was more than enough of a hint. "A team. Huh."

Just then, good ole Optimus Prime himself spoke up. Once more I was grateful that I made the Den as big as possible to welcome some of the larger guests. "Interesting. Is there anything else you can tell us, Bigby?"

"Oh, just that the Shrouded Queen will also be creating her own little team to counter Elsa and Daniel's. I won't spoil who the members of each group are though, just telling you that they exist. Thanks especially in part to Animeguy1101, I've got some surprises for what happens to our heroes during the adventure but you will have to wait until the story is posted to see them."

"Hey, I'm just happy to know you're still writing the story," Anna said brightly before pointing a finger at me. "Now you just need to hurry up and actually get to writing!"

"I get it, I get it!" I held my hands out in front of me. "I'll write, I promise! I'll write as soon as possible."

Anna had a look of smug satisfaction as she sat back in her seat, earning exasperated sighs from both Kristoff and Elsa. Olaf just wiggled in his seat with a smile on his face, completely ignorant to the mood.

"Hey, Bigby," A voice called. I looked in the direction and I was surprised to see the Z Fighters sitting down. Goku waved at me.

"Oh hey, Goku! Glad you could make it! What's up?"

"You were planning on writing a crossover between _Ben 10_ and _JoJo's Bizarre Adventure_ , right? What about that?"

"Hey, yeah," Ben sat up in his seat. "How's that coming along, Bigby?"

"At the moment, I think I have my hands full with _Bleach: Ultimate Alien_ and the _War of Tales_ , plus my alternate crossover with Darkmachines, so I don't know if it's a good idea for me to write another full length story," I explained. I also noticed that none of the JoJos had come today. I was put out for a moment before I realized that I hadn't actually introduced myself to them, so naturally they wouldn't have come here. Geez here I am, a JoJo fanboy and I don't even bother meeting my favorite characters. "So instead, I'll incorporate the _Ben 10_ and _JoJo_ crossover into my one-shots. Like one will be about Ben appearing in _Stardust Crusaders_ , another where he's in _Diamond is Unbreakable_ , _Vento Aureo_ , _Stone Ocean_ , etcetera, etcetera."

Ben leaned back as he thought this over. "That…sounds fine to me. If you think it's best for you to just stick to one-shots for this crossover then sure, go ahead."

"It's also what I plan to do for _Ten Piece_ ," I continued. "Different one-shots where Ben stars in one of the major arcs. I'm kinda leaning towards later arcs like Thriller Bark and some of the time-skip ones. Speaking of which, really anxious to see what happens in the next chapter, Luffy. I'm seriously looking forward to seeing Big Mom go down!"

"Yeah!" Luffy hit his fists together. "Just watch! Once I'm done with that Mochi guy, I'll kick Big Mom's ass!"

I threw back my head and laughed heartily. "Again, I'm looking forward to it, Luffy! I'm also hoping that the Vinsmoke family get their butts kicked too. Unfortunately, it looks like they're just going to do a Face Heel-Turn as TVtropes calls it and get off easy for their actions." My eyes narrowed at this. "I might need to do something about that."

Sanji lowered his head as he puffed his cigarette. I wonder what was going through his head at the thought of me bringing his family to my Den so I could punish them. With the exception of his big sister, the only decent sibling in his family. I decided it was best to change the subject.

"So yeah, while I haven't fully returned to _Ten Piece_ , I'm hoping these one-shots I'll write will be a decent compensation."

"Do what you believe is best, Bigby," Princess Celestia said kindly.

"Something is always better than nothing," Pinkie Pie spoke up with a big smile on her face.

Well that certainly took a weight off my shoulders. I'm glad everyone was, for now, cool with my decisions. "Next up, I have some more story challenges that my pal Mace Sheperd wants me to post."

"He's got some more challenges?" Ichigo asked.

"Two this time. Now let me see, what was the first one again." I scratched my head for a moment before snapping my fingers. "Oh, right!" I reached into my pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. "I wrote the messages down so I could just read them aloud." I explained as I unfolded the paper. Once I was finished, I straightened the paper, cleared my throat, and began to read. "In Mace Sheperd's own words:

* * *

" _This is a crossover between the anime Parasyte, the show My Little pony, and Mass effect._ _To write this you must have knowledge of Parasyte, My Little Pony and Mass effect._

 _So here is the plot Earth doesn't exist in the solar system but the planet Equestria does._

 _Not only that but the parasites from Parasyte are native to Equestria and they have infected EVERY single life form on Equestria, every Dragon, every zebra, every buffalo, Every donkey, every deer, every Ursa major (the infected Ursa major will be used as living tanks), every Griffin and yes every pony._

 _Not a single being native to Equestria has escaped being infected by the parasites._

 _The parasites then decide to spend the next several years making advances in technology like making cloning technology._

 _If you have watched Parasyte then you know that if two parasite infected individuals mate it'll result in an uninfected baby to prevent this from happening the parasites invent cloning technology so they can simply clone their infected host._

 _So the parasites must have cloning technology in the story._

 _Another rule for this story is that the parasites invent technology that is completely independent of mass effect technology._

 _I mean what kind of technology they invent in terms of weaponry and space travel is up to you as long as it is separate from mass effect technology._

 _Now the story is supposed to be an alternate first contact story._

 _The first contact war begins when turians discover the parasites inspect Relay 314._

 _Even though the parasites have advanced beyond the need for Relays they study them out of curiosity (I would like the parasites to be portrayed as curious but violent scientists and explorers)_

 _The turians like in canon open fire on the parasite ship, but the parasite ship is more advanced and easily destroys the turian ship._

 _But not before the turian ship is able to send a recording back to the hierarchy about what destroyed them._

 _The turians declare war on their new unknown enemy and they hunt down the parasites and find Shanxi._

 _The turians get their asses kicked by the superior fire power of the parasite ships and the turians that land on Shanxi get brutally murdered by the parasite infected ponies and other parasite infected equestrian animals._

 _Of course there are some parasite casualties as well but they are minimal._

 _Unlike in canon the first contact war last for five years as the empress of the Parasite empire the parasite infected celestia (it is up to you to come up with a name for her as I doubt the parasite would keep its host's name)declares war on not just the turians but on all the citadel races._

 _So the parasites launch an invasion of citadel space attacking ALL citadel races._

 _At the end of the five year war which is very bloody and results in casualties in both sides the parasites invade the citadel and capture (but don't kill) the council._

 _They force the council to agree to a surrender where they sign a treaty where they agree that all their races the Asari, The salarians and the turians are now living under parasite rule._

 _They then force the council to admit their surrender to the citadel races on a live broadcast._

 _This demoralizes the citadel races and The Parasite empire goes on to conquer (but not infect) the turians, the salarians, the asari, the hanar, and the drell._

 _ALL of the citadel races._

 _The quarians, krogans and geth aren't citadel so they are left alone._

 _I don't expect you to show the entire five years of the first contact war, I only expect you to show the beginning, the end and a little of what happens between not all of it._

 _I also like seeing reactions in stories so make sure to show the citadel races thoughts and reactions on the parasite infected ponies and other parasite infected equestrian natives._

 _Especially since they will be the citadel races over lords!_

 _Also there can be NO parasite infected humans, there are no humans on Equestria._

 _There are ponies, zebra, buffalo, dragons, deer, Ursa majors, donkeys, and griffins so there can only be parasite infected versions of them and I expect to see parasite infected versions of most of them._

 _And the commander Shepherd in this story is a parasite infected griffin._

 _It's gender and name are up to you._

 _The parasite infected natives of Equestria as they will be collectively known, will not only have the powers of a parasite they will also have access to magic just letting you know._ "

 _If you want to write this, please contact Mace Sheperd_!"

* * *

I stopped reading to look at my audience, who were all staring at me with wide eyes and open mouths.

"Well," Twilight said hesitantly. "That's…interesting."

"Uh, what's the next challenge, Bigby?" Gwen asked.

I looked back at the paper and began to read again.

* * *

" _A Warhammer 40k superman crossover using Superwoman the female superman of Earth 11._

 _This follows the standard superman storyline but with a female superman._

 _Early on in the 41st millennium, Krypton is about to blow up so Jor el and Lara try to send their infant daughter to Terra, the escape pod is launched into space right before Krypton blows up but a chunk of krypton knocks the pod off course._

 _Instead of crashing on Terra the infant Laurel (the name of the female superman) crashes on Macragge where her pod is found by the ultramarines._

 _The ultramarines find out that despite her human appearance that she is a xeno, this is because a pre recorded message by Jor el from the pod explains about the destruction of Krypton and that his daughter is the last of their kind._

 _Of course when the ultramarines find out that she is a xeno they try to kill her._

 _However Macragge is under a yellow sun and even as an infant a kryptonian can overpower a spacemarine._

 _Their chainswords break against her skin and their bolters bounce off._

 _The infant laurel realizing their hostility fights back and incinerates the attacking ultramarines with her heat vision._

 _A servoskull that was recording the entire thing sends the video back to the fortress monastery and more ultramarines try to kill the xeno infant only to be killed by the infant's great strength or heat vision._

 _Eventually the ordo xenos gets involved and an inquisitor upon seeing the footage of the infant Laurel slaughtering the ultramarines comes up with the idea to raise the infant and to mold it as a loyal servant of the god emperor, after all if this xeno is this powerful as a baby imagine how powerful it will be as an adult._

 _He orders the remaining Ultramarines to stop attacking the infant and to instead raise it, and the ultramarines grudgingly comply._

 _The ultramarines approach the infant and try to do so in a non threatening manner._

 _When the infant is calm they pick her up and take her back to the fortress monastery and began raising her._

 _Okay now for some rules this is supposed to be krypton in the warhammer 40k universe so there are NO other DC aliens just the kryptonians._

 _You can have metahumans appear as mutants._

 _You can have HUMAN DC villains appear as chaos cultist like you can have the joker appear as a chaos cultist as the role would suit him well._

 _You can also have human DC villains appear as traitors and heretics._

 _No alien DC villains since kryptonians are the only DC alien in this universe._

 _As for metahumans, for example you can have Zoom appear as a psyker that possesses a unique connection to the warp that grants him super speed._

 _And you can have killer croc be a chaos space marine who mutated to gain reptillian features._ "

* * *

A pity that the Justice League didn't come today but I could understand that they were probably busy saving their world from a planet wide gang of supervillains. I wonder what they would think of Mace's challenge.

"And now for the third challenge," I said as I looked at the paper a third time.

* * *

" _A mass effect dead space crossover that takes place after the events of mass effect 3_

T _his story uses the control ending where Shepherd takes control of the reapers_

 _Both the geth and the quarians survive FYI_

 _The main character in this story is Tali and Shepherd's adopted daughter who is a krogan_

 _Also even though Shepherd is controlling the reapers he was able to create a cybernetic "Avatar" body that resembles his original human body allowing him to maintain his romantic relationship with Tali and to raise their adopted daughter (they adopted because Quarians and humans can't have children together)_

 _Well anyways this takes place a LONG time after Mass effect 3 as Tali and Shepherd's adopted daughter is 26 in the story_

 _Anyways here is how it goes the brethren moons arrive in the mass effect galaxy from some other galaxy and begin spreading their markers across the mass effect galaxy_

 _You decide where the markers land but some of the locations have to be alien worlds and there have to be alien necromorphs_

 _If you want one marker can be sent to the citadel not teleported per say but sent there via asteroid as the marker that hit earth in dead space was sent there via asteroid_

 _So anyways mass effect aliens and humans study the markers and this leads to outbreaks of murder and insanity which leads to outbreaks of necromorphs_

 _Tali and Shepherd's adopted krogan daughter (her name is up to you) wherever you decide to put her will be the chief of security where she is at and she will be leading a team to combat the necromorphs._ "

* * *

With that, I folded the paper back up and returned it to my pocket.

"Those are Mace Sheperd's challenges and now I need to see if I can find anyone would be interested in writing these challenges for him."

"Do you think anyone will?" Ben asked.

"Hard to say. I've seen lots of story challenges get posted on the site but not all of them get accepted. Personally I think the challenges that get accepted the most are anime ones. On this site, if it's not an anime challenge, it's not very likely to get accepted."

"But there's always a challenge that someone will accept these challenges, right?" Steven Universe asked.

"Oh there's always a chance, Steven," I reassured him. "All we can really do is wait and see what happens."

Steven nodded in acceptance at that.

"Hey, Bigby," Nami called. "About your official story: what's it about?"

"Well, I'm sticking with my plan to make an anthology series of short stories but I've got an idea for my first story. It's working title is the _Sins of Science_."

Nami stared. "The _Sins of Science_? What's that about?"

"It's about a trio of friends who stumble upon an organization composed of intellectuals who have decided to combine their minds in order to achieve the accomplishments of famous science- fiction works such as the _Invisible Man_ , the _Island of Dr. Moreau_ , the _Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde_ , and possibly even _Frankenstein_. And when the organization plans on using their research to eventually control the world, it falls on the three friends to try and stop their plans."

"Hmm, it sounds intriguing," Robin said, leaning back and crossing one leg over the other. "But aside from a few exceptions like Ben 10, you never struck me as a science-fiction writer, Bigby. You've always seemed more as a fantasy author."

"I'm more comfortable with writing fantasy because that's what I mostly grew up on," I answered. "I like fantasy, science-fiction, adventure, and mystery stories. Oh with a romantic subplot."

"So that's one story down," Ichigo noted. "How many other stories are you going to be into this anthology of yours?"

"At the very least three, and that's including my _Sins of Science_ story. I'm thinking five short stories at the most. I've got a title for the anthology book so that's gotta count for something."

"Yeah, something," Kevin snarked. "So what's it going to be called?"

" _The Twilight Road_ ," I told him.

Kevin mulled the name over for a minute before shrugging. "Eh, not bad. Could be worse."

"Thank you for your support," I said under my breath.

"Well, we wish you the best of luck in all your work, Bigby," Elsa said encouragingly. "I'm really eager for when the _War of Tales_ is posted."

"And I'm actually looking forward to seeing these _JoJo_ one-shots you're going to write about," Ben said. "With updates for _Bleach: Ultimate Alien_ too, of course."

"Oh, of course," I said playfully and my audience chuckled at that.

"Well, it's been really nice to see you guys here," I said to them. "Again, I appreciate you all coming."

"Don't be afraid to send out invitations or something, Bigby," Anna said. "This place can fit a lot more people in here and it'd be nice to meet some more new friends."

"So many new worlds to learn about," Twilight said eagerly.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. "Great. Now you got her in egghead mode."

"You have a point," I said. "I do need to invite some more people here. We'd come up with more things to talk about, maybe even come up with some games and activities for us to enjoy."

"Games?!" Pinkie Pie, no surprises there, shouted with glee. "Oooh, do it, Bigby! Do it, do it, do it!"

I shook my head with good natured humor as I put my hands on my hips. "Well, since you want it, Pinkie Pie, I'll see what I can do."

Pinkie Pie squealed excitedly through her teeth.

"Well, guys," I said. "I guess that's all I have for now. This concludes another night of Bigby's Den! See you soon! And I mean that!" I added as an afterthought.

The audience laughed for the final time that night as they got up from their seats, waving me goodnight as they started heading out the Den. As they were leaving, I mulled over the invitation suggestion. It wasn't a bad idea to be perfectly honest.

Guess I have something else I need to write.

 **End of Chapter**

 **Yep, I've finally gotten another chapter of** Bigby's Den **. I still can't get over the fact that this wasn't updated since Christmas. I know I already talked about the reasons for my delay in the story itself but it's still registering how out of touch I've been with my writing. Well, I suppose "Better late than never" applies here. Though I'm bothered by** how **late it is.**

 **I'm sorry for the lack of variety with characters. I promise to include more in the later chapters. I really do need to branch out some more.**

 **So, in a recap to the chapter: I am now doing** The Snow Queen and the Winter Knight **under the title** The War of Tales. **I would like to thank Animeguy1101, Incredible Muffin, and Diablo Ex Machina for all their ideas. I also want to thank my pal Nerfherder97. He's been supplying ideas for me as well, but it's been awhile since the two of us talked about it. I wonder if he's still up for brainstorming ideas for the story**. **I've come to see how big this series is going to be and all ideas are welcomed to the table.**

 **Also, I would like to thank Animeguy1101 for helping me brainstorm ideas for Ben 10xJoJo crossover. Even if it's going to be a collection of one-shot ideas, Animeguy1101 is the one who helped me come up with Ben's Stand, Emerald Ace, along with the Stand's power. That I'll save for a surprise.  
**

 **And yes, the challenges that I mentioned are ones that Mace Shepard did request for me to post in hopes it'll attract any potential writers. I copy and pasted the challenges from my profile and the messages between him and me. If anyone is interested in writing these challenges, please contact Mace. He's really eager for someone to take these up.**

 **Also, there is something I need to talk about. I didn't bring it up in the chapter because I felt the chapter wasn't appropriate for this subject.**

 **Back in July, my father died. We had the memorial service in August. I still can't believe he's gone. There's so much stuff I was hoping for us to do, some good ole' father-son bonding moments. And now I'll never get that chance.**

 **His death has devastated me but I am doing my best to move on. I'm going to keep moving forward, make something of myself, and do whatever I can to become a successful writer. For both my dad who will never get to see me make it to the top, and for my mom, who is still here and still supports me. I love them both.**

 **With that, I'll leave you guys for now. I'll see you whenever I updated this, Bleach: Ultimate Alien, War of Tales, or any of my one-shots. Take care, everyone. I appreciate all of you and the fact that you take the time to read my work.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I own none of the characters except the fictionalized version of myself**

 **Important Announcement and some more Challenges**

It was with a heavy heart that I watched the patrons pour in to my Den. I had second-thoughts but I figured it would be better this way instead of doing my original plan. Everything would hopefully go far more smoothly. I think.

Two figures appeared on the stage. One was an anthropomorphic chihuahua and a red anthropomorphic cat with a big red nose.

"Welcome to Bigby's Den," The chihuahua said warmly. "I'm Ren Hoek."

"Duh, and I'm Stimpy," The cat said.

"Some of you probably remember us from Nickelodeon's old show, the _Ren and Stimpy Show_ ," Ren went on.

"You're also probably wondering what we're doing at Bigby's Den," Stimpy said as he threw his hands in the air. "We work here now!"

"That's right, Stimpy," Ren said before he grit his teeth, a manic look in his eyes. "Thanks to those _eediots_ at Spike TV with their _stoopid_ little _Adult Cartoon Party..._ Nickelodeon doesn't want us anymore!"

Both animals started tearing up at this revelation. Those who were from Nickelodeon gave them sympathetic looks, already familiar with the story of the two buddies.

"But it's okay now Ren," Stimpy perked up. "Bigby took us in."

"That's true, Stimpy. Bigby found us and offered us a home, right here in the Den. It sure was nice of him to do that, huh Stimpy?"

Stimpy nodded happily, his tongue hanging out of his mouth.

"Okay, folks," Ren said to the audience. "We won't hold you up any longer. Please welcome to the stage, our host, Bigby the Big Bad Wolf!"

I made my way to the front of the stage. By now, the crowd noticed and some started waving at me. With a shaky hand I grabbed the microphone. I started to talk but all that come out was a light wheeze of air. Luckily the majority seemed more focused on talking to each other than noticing my slip up. I quickly cleared my throat and spoke again.

"Thank you, Ren and Stimpy. And hello, everyone! Thank _you_ for coming to another night of Bigby's Den!"

Cue the round of applause that time. Despite my anxiety, I appreciated the gesture.

"It's great to see all of you here tonight. I'm grateful you all have taken the time to see me. Hopefully, it will make things so much easier."

That got their attention. The patrons began whispering rapidly to each other, everyone sporting worried looks at me now.

"What's wrong, Bigby?" Steven Universe, bless his little soul, asked me.

"I have some very important announcements I would like to make. I'm going to go ahead and get the bad news out of the way."

Now everyone looked really worried. I needed to tear this Band-Aid off as soon as possible. I took a deep breath and crossed my fingers within my pockets.

"Well, guys," I said shakily. "The bad news is that all three of my stories are going to be delayed indefinitely. I can't say whether they're postponed, on hiatus, or just going to be very late, but I don't think I'll be updating any time soon."

That earned a collective gasp from my friends. Many started gasping amongst themselves again.

"Oh no, that's terrible!" Mabel Pines cried, putting her hands on her cheeks.

"Dude, what's wrong?" Michelangelo shouted from the table where he and his brothers sat.

"You've already kept your readers waiting long enough, Bigby," Mabel's brother, Dipper Pines called. "What's the problem now?"

I rubbed the back of my head as I tried to put my thoughts together. "Well, guys. The short version is that I have a lot of real life issues I need to deal with first."

"And the long version?" Mabel asked me.

"Well, my first issue is Health Insurance. I thought _that_ was over when I applied for Medicaid and received a card. But then I find out I have to pick an actual Health Plan _through_ Medicaid. Sheesh."

"That's not the only problem." Garnet stated more than asked. Of course, with her Future Vision, that made sense.

"The second issue is that my laptop is messed up due to a software or hardware feature. The fact that it's an older laptop doesn't help much. I can still type documents but I can't use the internet. There are always errors on the pages. I can transfer documents to my tablet and upload from there but I really don't feel like doing that every single time I want to post something. Same with going to a place like the library. So I'm going to save up money for a new laptop. Unfortunately, given my spending habits, I hope I can stay committed to this."

"You can do it, Bigby!" Mabel called.

"That's right!" Steven's friend Connie agreed.

"You just need to focus on your goal!" Gwen shouted.

"And stop blowing money on every single thing you like!" Kevin threw in, earning glares from not just Ben and Gwen, but also several people sitting nearby. "What? You know Bigby does that."

"I'll own up to that, Kevin. I do have a habit of blowing money on whatever catches my interest, which makes this an uphill climb for me. Another thing I _severely_ need to work on. The next issue is my job: new promotional items, troublesome coworkers, and smaller paychecks due to hours getting cut. Let me tell you, it's hard to deal with bills, Student Loans, and providing for yourself when you have a minimal paycheck."

A lot of people in the audience who had their own financial problems winced in sympathy.

"This leads to my main issue: I am 27 years old, I work at a deadbeat job where I hardly get paid, I still live with the rest of my family, and I have a degree that I'm never going to use."

"You're never going to use your Bachelor's Degree in Psychology?" Pearl asked in surprise. "But then why even go for it?"

I look at the floor. "I wanted to impress my dad."

Pearl flinched. "Oh."

"That's another thing. I'm thinking about going back to school and getting a degree in something I'm actually passionate about. Of course, the main thing I'm passionate about it is Literature. But hey, that's a start, right?""

"I think I see what the trouble is," A deep, slightly familiar voice said. Curious, I looked around to figure out where the voice came from until a figure stepped out of the shadows. Batman!

"You were comfortable," Batman analyzed. "You had a paying job, a roof over your head, and all the free time to write whatever you wanted. What more could you possibly want? But now your responsibilities in the real world have caught up with you."

"Correct as usual, Batman," I said with a nod to the World's Greatest Detective. "My family reminded me that I really need to think about my future. And I'm worried that my stories will end up becoming distractions."

"Are you scared of getting kicked out of your house?" Dipper inquired.

"Something like that. I was told that I had up to summer to have a plan about what I'm going to do with my life," I explained.

"By summer?!" Mabel exclaimed.

"So bottom line is this that I have to deal with Health Plans, a new laptop, a better paying job, and probably going to school along with focusing on an actual career roughly by summer time." I summed up.

"Wait. I thought writing was going to be your career?" Connie asked. "Do you not want to be an author anymore?"

"I _do_ want to be an author but at the rate I'm going, it doesn't look like I'll be one anytime soon," I sadly admitted with a slump of my shoulders. "I'm going to keep trying but right now I have other things to deal with."

"Better safe than sorry," Garnet stated.

The Pine twins' great uncle, or Grunkle, Ford, spoke up. "While I'm sorry to hear that you're not able to do what you really want to, I am glad you are working on your future first."

"So…does this mean you're not going to write your stories at all?" Amethyst asked me.

"I'll try to write whenever I can," I told her. "But I need to make my real world issues top priority."

"How long do you think it will take you?" The gargoyle Goliath asked curiously.

"I can't say for certain. I'll try to take care of everything as soon as possible but I'm sure it will take me quite a while."

"Sounds familiar," Kevin muttered.

"Kevin," Gwen hissed at him.

"I'm just saying, Bigby's done this before. He stops updating, says he just needs to take a break, and then he winds up dropping the stories. I'm not trying to be hard on him but I really want to know that he is going to continue writing when he has the chance."

Gwen looked like she was about to argue but the words died before she could get them out. Probably noticed that Kevin had a decent point

"Bigby has reassured us time and time again that the stories he's working on will not be abandoned," Tier Harribel spoke up, drawing everyone's attention to her. "If he says he won't, then we must give him the benefit of a doubt." She looked over at me now. "Isn't that correct, Bigby?"

Dammit! I hate when she does that look like she's trying to pierce my very soul. As much as I liked Harribel, I really wish she would stop doing that look on me. Seriously, I think she try to make that an actual technique of hers. Oh great, now she's got everyone zeroed in on me. Thanks a lot, Harribel. I make you the primary love interest in one of my stories and this is how you repay me?

"Harribel," I said as firm as I possibly could. "I will _not_ abandon these stories."

Then Harribel did the second worst habit of hers. She just stared at me for a few seconds before finally sitting back in her seat. "Good enough for me."

"Same here," Garnet spoke up. The two warriors looked at each other. Garnet smiled and Harribel nodded her head respectfully.

"I have never been so outnumbered in my life," I muttered under my breath. Though, that was probably true. I think there was that one time in middle school where I got my entire class pissed off at me. Actually, I think that was a recurring thing due to my temper. Dear god, I'm only 27 and I'm already feeling old.

"Well, now that we've got the bad news out of the way, I guess it's time to focus on the good news. First off, even though my stories are going to be held up for some time, I do know what I'm going to write for each chapter. Before I go into that though, I've decided to turn _JoJo's Bizarre Alien Adventure_ into a full story instead of a one-shot collection."

"What?!" A joyous voice cried out. I looked in the back and noticed Joseph Joestar beaming happily.

"Oi, Gramps," Jotaro said as he adjusted his hat. "Sit down, will ya? You're making a scene."

"I'm surprised, Bigby," Samurai Jack said from the side, sitting content with Ashi. In this world, I was the one calling the shots, so I made it possible for Ashi to exist here. "What brought about this change?"

"Well, it all started when Animeguy1101 gave me some advice on how to do a one-shot for the next official chapter of Stardust Crusaders, where they are on a plane ride to Egypt. I originally couldn't think of any way to deviate from it, so I was going to skip that part and write the next one-shot for a much later part, where they are leaving Singapore on a boat."

"Um, I think you might have lost us, Bigby," Pearl said from her table with Steven. "At least those of us who aren't familiar with _JoJo's Bizarre Adventure_."

"Okay, okay," I said, putting my hands in my pocket. "Bottom line is Animeguy1101 gave me advice for chapters I was originally thinking about skipping. So, this gave me the idea to just turn _Bizarre Alien Adventures_ into an actual story instead of a loose anthology."

"But, Bigby," Ichigo called from his table. "The different Parts of JoJo are spread over years. How are you going to have Ben cover them all?"

I grinned at Ichigo. "Don't worry, man. Animeguy1101 helped me get that covered."

Ichigo leaned back in his seat. "Well, alright, Bigby. I'll trust you on this."

"Thank you, Ichigo."

"I'm curious, Bigby," Cat Noir said. "Did you have pairings planned for that series?"

I grin. "Well, I am considering having Ben get paired with Jotaro's daughter, Jolyne Cujoh during the events of Part 6: Stone Ocean."

"What?!" Joseph bellowed. "You're going to pair Ben up with my future granddaughter!"

"Oi, Gramps," Jotaro snapped. "Shut up, already."

"When I get my hands on you, Wolf!" Joseph looked ready to lunge at me, but Jotaro called his Stand Star Platinum to hold Joseph in place as he ranted.

"Yare Yare Daze," Jotaro muttered. I couldn't help smiling. I always loved that catchphrase. Said it myself a few times at work whenever I was by myself.

Once I was certain Joseph was placated, I decided to continue. "Also, as previously mentioned, I already know what I'm going to write for the next chapters of my three main stories: _Bleach: Ultimate Alien_ , _JoJo's Bizarre Alien Adventures_ , and the _Story-Keeper Chronicles_." This got everyone's attention as they leaned forward. "In _Bleach: Ultimate Alien_ , Ben is going to do more training, more bonding with the Arrancar, and then, Aizen is going to send Ben to Karakura Town with some of the Espada, so that he can identify the mysterious person aiding the Soul Reapers."

Mohammed Avdol, who was sitting with the Joestar family, narrowed his eyes. "But that means…"

"That's right!" I pointed. "Ben will finally learn what Aizen's really up to. The question is, what will Ben do when he learns the truth?"

"Ah, yeah," Amethyst rubbed her hands gleefully. "Now we're getting to the good parts!"

"The plot is about to thicken," Garnet said stoically.

"What are you planning for _Bizarre Alien Adventure_ , Bigby?" Ladybug asked.

"Well, in the next chapter, the gang hops on a plane heading for Egypt to confront Dio. Unfortunately, they find out that one of his minions, Tower of Grey, is also on board and plans on killing them. The gang has to defeat Tower of Grey without damaging the plane or harming the passengers."

"Sounds like a tough fight," Brooklyn from Gargoyles said while his pal Broadway was snacking on some food spread out on their table.

"I've already planned out how the fight is going to go, and Animeguy1101 helped me with the aftermath of the fight."

"What are you planning for the next chapter of the _Story-Keeper Chronicles_?" Elsa asked.

"Well, the next chapter has Ashi meet the Story-Keeper's second-in-command and his butlers."

Ashi looked at me. "The Story-Keeper has a second-in-command? He has butlers? There are _other_ people in the library besides him?"

I grinned at her. "That's right. Now before you say anything, Ashi, all your answers will be revealed in the chapter when it comes out. Aside from meeting them, you also receive a proper tour of the library. I would like to give credit to Diablo Ex Machina for his ideas on rooms in the library. They definitely fit the criteria for a magical library."

Ashi looks inquisitive now, obviously curious about what she will see in the chapter to come.

"There's also going to be foreshadowing to not just the next chapters afterwards, but also significance to the _War of Tales_. I won't say anything else. Spoilers for that."

"Awwww," Amethyst playfully whined, which brought in more laughter from the others.

"Okay, now with that out of the way," I said. "It's time for the Story Challenges."

Pearl groaned. " _More_ Story Challenges. Bigby, honestly, I think you spend more time coming up with challenges than actual writing. Whatever happened to your plan on making one-shot stories? Couldn't you use that?"

I tilted my head. "What do you mean?"

"Why not just write one-shots and then see if there are any writers interested in picking up from there?"

I froze. Pearl…had a really good point. Why hadn't I thought of that? Did I think of that and forgot? Or am I just assuming that to save face? Dear god, am I going to have to start writing down everything I do? Again, I'm 27 years old, I should not have be having severe memory problems yet.

"Okay, you made a fair point, Pearl. I'll start taking that into consideration but since I've already got these ideas, I might as well talk about them now."

"Well, I guess you can do that," Pearl relented.

"Thank you, Pearl. Now, first off I have recently gained a newfound interest in the franchise, _Super Sentai_. For those of you who may not know, that is the series America adapted into _Power Rangers_."

A collective Oooooh rang through the crowd.

"Now, while _Power Rangers_ itself will always have a place in my childhood, I have come to find _Super Sentai_ to be superior in terms of plots and characterization. I don't blame the _Power Ranger_ actors, mostly, I blame the writing. They wanted the Rangers to always be these flat goody-goodies with hammy lines. _Super Sentai_ allowed their Rangers to be flawed but still good people. Plus, sometimes they made far too many nonsensical plots in _Power Rangers_. _Turbo_ , I'm looking at you."

This earned a few chuckles, mainly the few who were surprisingly well informed on what _Power Rangers_ was.

"Bottom line is, I like _Super Sentai_ and now I have a story challenge for any writers who want to cross _Super Sentai_ with _Ben 10_!"

Ben laughed from his spot. "Another story challenge with me, Bigby?"

I shrug. "What can I say; you have crossover potential, Ben."

Ben nodded. "Fair enough. Okay, Bigby. What's the challenge?"

"First, like I said, the challenge is a crossover between _Ben 10_ and the _Super Sentai_ series _Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger_ , which would be translated in America as _Pirate Squadron Gokaiger_. Here's the main plot: Ben learns that before him, the Earth was protected by mighty heroes known as Super Sentai. One day, the Earth was invaded by the Zangyack, a powerful empire that was feared by even the likes of Vilgax, the Incurseans, and the Highbreed, and who considered the Plumbers to be a small annoyance at best."

Ben whistled at my description.

"The Super Sentai throughout history, 34 teams in all, banded together to fight the Zangyack, but due to their sheer numbers, the Sentai were forced to sacrifice their powers to repel the invasion. Now, years later, the Zangyack have returned to conquer Earth, being led by the prince of the empire, Warz Gil himself. Ben steps up to fight the empire, but gets an unexpected surprise by the Gokaiger, a band of Sentai-like space pirates. Led by the flashy Captain Marvelous, they possess Ranger Keys that allow them to use the forms and powers of the previous 34 Sentai teams before them. Ben thinks that he's gained some new allies, only to learn the Gokaiger came to Earth seeking the Ultimate Treasure in the universe, treating the Zangyack as Ben's problem, not theirs. Ben needs to convince the Gokaiger to work with him to save the Earth, especially when Ben's enemies decide to work with the Zangyack to crush him, and the Zangyack themselves decide to claim the Omnitrix."

Ben folded his arms as he nodded. "Not bad. Sounds pretty cool. You think anyone will be up for it?"

"I'm hoping so," I admitted. "I would really love to watch something like this happen and read it."

"What about pairings?" Kevin asked slyly, earning an annoyed look from Gwen.

"Pairings are optional. Ben can be paired with any female in Gokaiger such as the main girls Ahim and Luka, or even the Zangyack scientist Insarn. Harems are also acceptable. Hey, I'm not the one writing this story after all."

That earned a few chuckles and looks of amusement.

"Good luck, Bigby," Gwen said.

"Thank you, Gwen," I said as I adjusted my collar. "Okay, next story challenge is a crossover between _Ben 10_ and _Gravity Falls_."

Ben leaned forward while the Mystery Twins themselves perked up at their show being addressed.

"The plotline here is that Ben, Gwen, and Kevin are sent to investigate Gravity Falls, a place that has baffled even the best of Plumbers. There, they all get summer jobs in various places, Ben most likely getting a job at the Mystery Shack while befriending Dipper and Mabel. When they see Ben transform before their very eyes, Dipper shows Ben the journal and suggests they team up to solve the mysteries of Gravity Falls."

"That sounds pretty cool," Dipper said with a smile.

"Oh man, befriending a guy who can turn into different aliens!" Mabel squealed. "How cool is that?!"

"So, Wolf," Their Grunkle Stan called. "What's the pairing plan for this one?"

"Well, considering how pickings are pretty slim," I answered. "The best choice would probably be Wendy. This could actually be an interesting plot point where Wendy develops an interest in Ben, unintentionally driving a wedge between Ben and Dipper, who themselves have developed a brotherly bond with each other. The only other option I can currently think of is that Ben hooks up with Wendy's friend Tambry instead of her hooking up with that jerk Robbie. Especially since that involved a love potion; a temporary love potion but still." I laughed. "I was thinking of this hilarious little love rectangle: Mabel has a crush on Ben but Wendy starts liking him, which upsets Dipper, due to his own crush on Wendy."

"Oh, drama," Stan rubbed his hands gleefully. "This should be good."

"My third story challenge is another _Super Sentai_ crossover," I went on. "I would really like to see someone write a crossover between _Super Sentai_ and _Miraculous Ladybug_."

"Ooooh," Alya Cesaire cooed, rubbing her hands anxiously. Ladybug smiled indulgently. It amused me how much Alya was unaware that Ladybug was really her best friend Marinette.

"Now, I'm leaning toward another _Gokaiger_ crossover, since I really like that series, but in a honesty the one who accepts this challenge can use whichever Sentai they think is best suited for _Miraculous Ladybug_. My next crossover challenge is with good ole' Transformers. I call it _Carranger Prime_ because I want to cross Transformers with the Sentai series _Gekisou Sentai Carranger_ or _Racing Squadron Carranger_. The plot is that the Bowzock, a deadly intergalactic biker gang, have recently destroyed the planet Hazard and are now targeting Earth. Dappu, the last survivor of Hazard, makes his way to Earth to find those worthy of being the Carranger, the only ones capable of fighting the Bowzock. Fortunately, the Carranger are not alone as the Autobots reveal themselves. Optimus Prime vows to help the Carranger protect Earth from the bikers, who decide to try and tip the scale in their favor when they learn the legendary Decepticons are on Earth and propose a deal with Megatron."

"Hey, isn't Carranger that parody-ish Sentai series? Are you sure that's the right Sentai to use for Transformers?"

I chuckled. "Well, it's the main one I could think of at the top of my head. Of course, I gladly encourage anyone who wants to try a different Sentai crossover with Transformers. In fact, I have an alternative Sentai in case nobody is interested in Carranger. This one is a crossover between _Transformers Prime_ and _Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger_ , aka _Blastasaur Squadron Abaranger_."

Steven's eyes became like stars. "Whoa! Blastasaur? Is this some kind of dinosaur one?"

"It sure is, Steven. Now, the premise here is that Team Prime is told reports about robot dinosaurs allegedly running amuck in Tokyo. Thinking the culprits are Cybertronian, they head out. When Miko learns they're going to Tokyo, she sneaks herself, Jack, and Raf along for the ride. Turns out that besides wanting to see the dinosaurs, Miko also want to visit her uncle, Mikoto Nakadai, a renowned surgeon who lives in Tokyo. Team Prime learns that the robot dinosaurs are _not_ Cybertronians but actually sentient mecha called Bakuyruu. Apparently, when the meteorite that supposedly killed the dinosaurs made impact, it actually created two parallel Earths. The Bakuryuu hail from this parallel "Dino-Earth" and are waging a battle against an evil force called the Evoliens, who came from the meterorite, with the aid of their human partners, the Bakuryuu Sentai Abarangers. Realizing that Earth faces another threat besides the Decepticons, the Autobots form an alliance with the Abarangers. Things get complicated when Miko learns her uncle has the same power as the Abarangers but, donning the name Abarekiller, Mikoto reveals he's more interested in playing deadly games against the heroes, as he believes in using his power for his own personal desires and making his life more exciting."

"Well now," Pearl said after I had finished. "That is a certainly elaborate challenge."

"Well, I did notice that, aside from using their last name to have them be related, the two are similar to each other since they both prefer exciting lives. From there, I saw that even though they are from different series, they make decent foils to each other. Miko may prefer a thrilling life, but she's ultimately on the side of good while Mikoto doesn't care about such concepts and just believes in doing whatever makes him personally happy."

"That's very insightful of you, Bigby," Someone in the crowd said. "And you came up with this just because of a last name?"

I shrugged. "I guess. It all started with the idea to make them related and the pieces just sort of fell into place."

"Hmm. Not bad, Bigby. I'm actually hoping someone picks up that one. So, what's next?"

"Well, there's one more Story Challenge: this isn't from me though. This one is from my pal Mace Sheperd."

"He really likes asking you to post Story Challenges, huh?" Dipper noticed.

"Like me, he's really eager to see his ideas in some way, shape, or form," I replied. "He wants to see a crossover between _Ben 10_ and _Warhammer 40k_."

"That series?"

I nod. "Yep. _That_ series."

"What's the matter, Bigby?" Amethyst inquired. "You don't like that Warhammer thing?"

"Not 40k," I confessed. "Nobody in that series is even remotely likable, no matter how cool the powers, weapons, and technology are. I was honestly thinking about having that universe get destroyed in my _War of Tales_ series."

"Wow," Dipper frowned. "You hate that series so much you'd write about it getting destroyed?"

"That I would, Dipper," I crossed my arms. "That I would."

"…well, I think things just got tense," Ben commented. "Anyway, Bigby. So what is the premise of this crossover?"

"The premise is that it takes place between Ben: 10 Ultimate Alien and Ben 10: Omniverse. The story is that Ben has found himself, through however the author chooses him to, in the Warhammer 40k universe where he finds himself taken in by one of the few open-minded and pragmatic Inquisitor, who sees Ben more useful as alive and being used as a weapon against the enemies of the Imperium of Man. The story mainly focuses on Ben's misadventures in the 40k universe, primarily his constant struggle to live in a universe where morality is extremely twisted, almost nonexistent. One thing that Mace definitely wants to see happen is the female Inquisitor eventually falling in love with Ben."

Ben flashed me a grin. "You guys really like pairing me up in your stories, don't you?"

"Eh, I like romance on principle," I said nonchalantly. "Mace Sheperd might be the same but I can't say. I'd have to ask him myself."

"You think someone will take it, Bigby?"

"It's always possible. The hard part is that his ideas and challenge, mine too now that I think of it, need more cover."

"What do you mean by cover?" Mabel questioned.

"I mean we need to branch out. Find other spots on the fanfiction site where we could place our requests. Sadly, pickings are kind of slim since it's against the rules to post challenges by themselves. And this group called Critics United has been breathing down people's necks to make sure they follow the rules. Even over the most minor of things."

Amethyst scoffed. "Sound like the Bum Police, if you ask me."

"Amethyst!" Pearl chided her.

"They can be…are pretty annoying. Especially since I feel they could spend their time and energy on people who deserve it but so far I've never seen that happen."

"Just be careful before you start running your mouth, Bigby," Pearl warned me. "That, along with that temper of yours has gotten you into almost as much trouble as Amethyst."

"Considering the massive age gap between us, I highly doubt that, Pearl."

"Oh, you know what I mean, Bigby. Don't be impulsive."

"Okay, Pearl, okay." I let out a deep breath, relieved that I finally got all of that off of my chest. "Well, guys. That's all I really have to say for today. So, to recap, I'm going to be focusing more on getting my life in order, so my stories are going to take even longer possibly put on hold, and I have some story challenges I hope someone will be interested in writing."

"I guess the only thing we can say is good luck, Bigby," Ladybug told me encouragingly.

"As long as you put your mind to it," Cat Noir added. "There is nothing you can't do."

"Things are going to be tough," Stan pitched in. "And they probably won't work out the way you want them to."

"But if you ever want to have a bright future," Garnet advised. "You got to be prepared to fight for what you want."

"And most importantly," Dipper said. "Don't lose focus."

"I've got the feeling you guys have been stressing on me to focus," I commented dryly.

"That is one of your main problems when doing tasks, Bigby. We want you to make sure you understood how important it is."

"Trust me, guys. I've got a pretty good idea this time around. And I promise, I'll do whatever it takes to deal with my problems."

"That's the spirit, Bigby!" Steven cheered.

"So, I guess this concludes tonight's show, huh?" Mabel asked.

"Yeah, that's all I've got, Mabel. I'm sorry."

"Dude, I hope you'll have something big planned when you return to your writing," Amethyst said, grinning.

"Well, nothing's set in stone. Hopefully when I'm back to writing more than before, I'll start things off with a bang!" I punched the air for emphasis, though a lot of people in my audience were more amused by the fact that I went with punching the air.

"So, does this mean we're going to end on a big musical number?" Connie asked.

I shook my head. "Not today, Connie. How about we save that for later, when I'm confident that I can write without worries."

Connie laughed. "Well, I guess that's fine too."

"And so, my friends. That concludes another Bigby's Den! Take care, everyone! I hope to see you all again as soon as possible! Goodnight!"

"Goodnight, Bigby!"

 **The End**

 **Well, that about wraps it up. I am sorry for making you guys wait even longer for my stories but the clock is ticking and I need to show that I can make something of myself. I'm can still chat and plan out my stories, along with reviewing the works of my pals, plus like I said, I will try to write whenever I can, but I'm going to work primarily on my future. That and getting a new laptop. Hopefully, and I'm being very hopeful, I'll back to full on writing by the time summer rolls around. And things will be a lot less stressful by then.**

 **Despite this, I hope you all liked the chapter and if anyone is interested in writing these challenges, or know someone else who might be, please let me know.**

 **That's all I've got for now. See you all later!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me**

Excitement buzzed throughout the multiverse when it was revealed that my Den was reopened I had been gone for so long that many people had thought I was never coming back. Everyone was pouring in as best they could to see what was going on. Imagine their surprise when they got inside and saw that I wasn't there. Instead, my dear friends Jack Skellington and Ben Tennyson were on stage.

"Hey, guys!" Ben said, waving to everyone as they got to their seats.

"Ben?" Gwen asked. "What are you doing up stage?"

"Ah, allow me to explain that, Miss Tennyson," Jack said jovially. As usual, his charismatic nature drew everyone's attention and a profound silence fell upon the Den. "It seems that for the time being, our friend Bigby will not be coming here in person. So instead, he has left us in charge of the Den until he gets back."

This drew collective gasps and everyone was soon whispering amongst themselves.

"Bigby said he had things to do for now, so he can't host the Den," Ben spoke up. "Jack here was left in charge because, well, we all know how much Bigby loves the Nightmare Before Christmas. As for me? Well, since Bigby is writing a lot of stories about me, he figured I might as well host too."

Ladybug spoke up now. Oh, poor Ladybug. I had heard what had been happening to her lately, thanks to that despicable Lila. Oh, I wanted nothing more than to track that girl down and give her a piece of my mind. But there was nothing I could do about it now as Ladybug asked her question. "So, does this mean Bigby finally got that new laptop?"

"I'm afraid he didn't," Jack said, earning another gasp from the audience. "Instead, Bigby decided to simply type the stories on his old laptop and transfer the documents to his recent phone…"

"An LG stylo 4," Ben added.

"And then upload the documents from there," Jack finished. "So far they're doing a good job."

"Why wasn't Bigby able to buy a new laptop?"

"Allow me to explain," a new voice said. Jack and Ben turned as a long haired man in an 18th century suit and cape walked across the stage.

"The floor is yours, Alucard," Jack said with a bow.

Alucard, the famous dhampir from Castlevania, spoke up. "Bigby has continued having financial issues and as such has not been able to buy his new laptop. After realizing that he would not be getting a new one soon, he decided to take a chance with his old laptop. While he has had some difficulty, as Jack said, it capable enough for what he needs to do."

"Does this mean he'll be getting back to _Bleach: Ultimate Alien_?" Orihime asked.

Ben grinned. "That's right, Orihime. Bigby's back on it along with the rest of his work!"

The audience cheered.

"But first, Bigby decided to write three chapters of _JoJo's Alien Adventure_ as a way to make up for lost time. He should be posting them pretty soon."

"Three chapters, eh?" beamed the mighty He-Man. "At least he hasn't been idle all this time."

"But what about his actual writing career?" Princess Bubblegum called out. "How's that coming?"

Here, Jack and Ben's faces fell, looking at each other nervously. The others could tell this wasn't good news.

Ladybug decided to be the one to ask the question. "What's wrong?"

Jack sighed. "Well, sadly Bigby's once again hit a bit of a snag with his work once."

"Is he still scared of not coming up with anything original?" Marceline asked.

"Oh no, not that," Jack reassured her. "He has all sorts of ideas to write down and several of his peers really liked them."

"So…what seems to be the problem?" Pearl asked.

"Bigby realized that while his ideas aren't bad, his actual writing has room for improvement," Alucard answered. "He told us that his stories felt…mechanical, flat."

"Flat?" Arcee asked.

"That his writing looked forced," Ben elaborated. "Didn't feel natural."

Pearl cupped her chin. "I see. I wonder why that is."

"Bigby admitted that it was mostly because his writing skills were self-taught," Jack said. "He thought that because he liked fiction and had fun acting stories out with his friends, then he _must_ be a natural storyteller and didn't _need_ to learn how."

"Is that why Bigby's not here right now?" Twilight Sparkle asked. "He's trying to learn how to write better?"

"Among other things." She-Ra, from the original Filmation series, walked on the stage. "I'm sure many of you are aware of the conflicts regarding modern entertainment?"

"Oh trust me, dudette," Michelangelo said. "Who hasn't heard?"

"Bigby wants to create captivating stories with engaging characters," She-Ra explained. "But he is worried that people will try to tamper with his writing for one reason for another, instead of letting him make something fun and entertaining. Luckily, Bigby's good friend, the **Incredible Muffin** , told him to just write what he wants to write. He'll find people who would enjoy his work."

"He does need to prepare himself, however," Optimus spoke up. "While his stories _may_ be overlooked, there's always a chance his fears will come to pass. He will have to take a stand for the stories he wishes to tell rather than what others expect him to."

"The world's really become a scary place right now," Steven said sadly. "Everyone's arguing about who's right and who's wrong. Why can't everyone just get along and respect each other?"

"Human nature, young Steven Universe," Alucard said wistfully. "There cannot be winners without losers, and almost everyone in the world is determined to be a winner; especially when it involves _their_ personal way of life. Some don't even care whether or not they are right; they just want the privilege of getting their way instead of the other person. That has been going on since the dawn of time."

"The real problem is not conflict itself," Pearl added. "But rather, everyone is fighting for what they want at the same exact time. I'm surprised society is holding itself together right now."

"I fear that at the moment, society has become a house of cards," Alucard said. "All it will take is just the right movement to bring the house down."

Steven hung his head at those words, causing Garnet to put a comforting hand on his back.

"But that doesn't mean people should just give up," Alucard added, causing the young gem to look up at him. "Remember, Steven, 'the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing'."

Steven smiled a little at that.

"Problem is trying to figure out who's evil and who's good in this case," Pearl muttered.

"I don't suppose you could tell us what these story ideas of Bigby's are, Jack?" dear old Winnie the Pooh asked, surprisingly getting back on track.

Jack shook his head. "I'm afraid not, Pooh Bear. As much as Bigby would like to share his ideas, he wants to keep them a surprise for the time being."

"So we're not going to be told anything about Bigby's stories?" Amethyst asked.

"Not yet." Ben said. "When Bigby's more certain that nothing will happen, he'll share them with us."

"Well, I hope he gets back soon," Spider-Man said from the Den's ceiling. "What about his fanfiction?"

"Oh, the usual," Jack said with a grin. " _Bleach: Ultimate Alien_ , _JoJo's Alien Adventures_ , _The Story-Keeper Chronicles/War of Tales_. And some one-shots here and there."

"The one-shots will be sporadic at best," She-Ra elaborated with a smile. "Though he said he'd try harder to keep them from turning into complete series like _JoJo's Alien Adventures_ became."

Everyone chuckled at that.

"Well, at least ole Bigby's writing again, so that's some good news," Baloo the bear said, leaning back in his seat. "Maybe 2019 will be a better year for him."

"We can only wait and see," Optimus said wisely.

"Well, everyone," Jack said. "Thank you all for coming to another night of Bigby's Den. I believe we've covered everything for tonight so we'll see you next time!"

Jack, along with Ben, Alucard, and She-Ra waved goodbye.

 **End**

 _Yeah. I'm personally going to be away from the Den in the story. How long, I don't know._

 _But yeah, I've written some rough drafts for my original stories and I did notice that they looked so force. Why? Aside from the aforementioned crude writing skills, it's also because I don't fully understand how people besides myself think and act. I'm a shut-in and unless I'm going to work, the library, or the store, I stay at home. The only people I really interact with are my family and my coworkers. I have friends but we don't hang out as much as we used to since high school._

 _When writing fanfiction, it's easy since I'm using established characters but new ones where I have to create everything from scratch? Not so much for me._

 _Naturally, the obvious thing would be to interact with people more. Sadly nobody seems really interesting enough to base characters on. Not because everybody's dull or boring, though some of the people in my town are pretty unlikable. It's because…everyone's just so normal. I want to write about characters who are larger than life, not some Average Joes. Course I could always write about a protagonist who knows he's an Average Joe but strives to become more._

 _I know I talked about this before but I really thought that I could make at least one story without any help. But, at the rate things are going, I'm going to need it if I ever hope to become a real author._

 _Well, that's all I've got for now. Talk to ya guys next time!_


End file.
